MESSAGE OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY
Press Release
GA/9181
MESSAGE OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY
19961202 Following is the message of the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), on the occasion of World AIDS Day, 2 December 1996:The HIV and AIDS epidemic continues to take its toll, with an estimated 8,500 people newly infected each day. Over 21 million people currently live with HIV/AIDS, 90 per cent of whom live in the developing world. AIDS is a unique disease, the epidemic an appalling tragedy with a global outreach. HIV/AIDS occurs in all countries and societies and does not discriminate. It is permanent in those individuals who are infected. It is permanent in human populations once members of those populations are infected. It affects children, both in the womb and by leaving them orphaned. The nature of HIV transmission is such as to conduce the stigmatization and isolation of the HIV infected.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS was established in January 1996 to coordinate a global response to this global problem. By combining the expertise of five specialized United Nations agencies and the World Bank, the UNAIDS programme hopes to maximize its outreach, and leverage significant resources in support of effective AIDS programmes around the world.
Under the banner "One World, One Hope", World AIDS Day 1996 is an occasion to focus public and official attention on the epidemic. Unfortunately, the spirit of interconnectedness implied in such a slogan is not the reality for many living with HIV. Many sufferers experience discrimination and rejection, being relegated to a marginalized and isolated world dominated by pain, chronic illness and impending mortality. In some places, where fear and stigma dominate the social climate, people hide their HIV status and receive no care whatsoever. Shame, guilt, ignorance and apportioning blame only add to the burden and trauma of sufferers and care- givers alike.
Today, medical science promises new combination-drug therapies, which offer renewed hope of arresting the AIDS virus. Exciting as this breakthrough is, the exorbitant cost of such treatment, at up to $20,000 a year, delivers hope to high-income groups only. This exacerbates the inequalities of access to health care for HIV-infected persons, both within and between countries. In some countries of sub-Saharan Africa, public expenditure on health services totals no more than $10 per person per year. The majority of those with HIV worldwide are, therefore, excluded from any treatment using drug therapy.
Encouragingly, there have been significant successes in preventive strategies that have reduced the spread of HIV by changing social attitudes
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and high-risk behaviours. These have tended to emphasize access to accurate information, and placed women and high-risk groups at the centre of public health campaigns.
Preventive strategies are particularly important in developing countries, where underdevelopment and poverty inhibit the spread of accurate information about AIDS, and diminish access to and provision of health services. Central to the success of such strategies is the determination on the part of governments, public policy officials and health service providers, to tackle HIV prevention as a public health issue. It is essential that societal mores and traditional cultural norms give way to tolerance and enlightened initiatives, so that those infected with HIV/AIDS and their families are regarded as rightful members of society that deserve full care and attention.
In this context, a special appeal needs to be directed to the large developing countries with huge populations. They must squarely recognize the magnitude of the problem before them. There should be neither political inertia that tries to understate the crisis, nor quasi-religious and cultural mind-sets that dangerously retard efforts to provide protection for the young and vulnerable through sexual education and tutelage.
As the rate of HIV infection is reduced in developed countries, the possibility that it may continue to spiral out of control in developing countries poses serious social, political and ethical questions. If the transmission routes of HIV infection are acknowledged to be variables of poverty, the international community must attend to these root causes.
In the final analysis, there is no running away from the fact that the poor countries have had a bad deal, and have been marginalized. Their inability to cope with the scourge of AIDS, as well as other diseases of poverty and trans-boundary environmental degradation, relates directly to their dire economic straits. In some instances, the case is being made that external indebtedness and structural adjustment policies have increased the relative risks of HIV spreading, by the steady weakening of primary health- care services and resources.
It is imperative that the international community redress the inequity of responses to AIDS, by ensuring that the concentration of resources in developed countries does not skew research and other HIV-related agendas in the direction of privileged groups, and away from the disenfranchised, the voiceless, and the less well-informed.
The challenge of HIV/AIDS requires complex and long-term initiatives. These should combine direct health interventions and preventive measures with innovative actions that address the broader context of the epidemic, such as those that include its socio-economic causes and consequences. The challenge of the "One World, One Hope" campaign is to encourage a positive and open acceptance of HIV and AIDS sufferers within our midst, by recognizing the human linkages and interrelationships of this problem. It is only on this basis that we can have an effective response that underlines a shared commitment and the non-denial of hope.
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