ONE-DAY MEETING AT HEADQUARTERS DISCUSSES CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS

10 November 1998

Press Release
POP/687

ONE-DAY MEETING AT HEADQUARTERS DISCUSSES CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS

19981110 Organized by Population Division in Collaboration With UNAIDS, Meeting Told Over 30 Million People Are Currently Infected

NEW YORK, 10 November (Population Division, DESA) -- "HIV/AIDS is a global human tragedy, which denies to the millions of its victims the benefits of humanity's greatest achievement -- a healthy, long life ... This indeed is one of the most serious threats and challenges for the next millennium", reported Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette in a statement to the opening of today's United Nations Technical Meeting on the Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS.

"In many African countries, AIDS has increased infant and child mortality and reduced life expectancy at birth to levels observed in the 1960s or even the 1950s", said Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), speaking on behalf of the Deputy Secretary-General. He added that the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues unabated, especially in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Organized by the Population Division, in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the one-day meeting also heard the views of representatives of various United Nations organizations and programmes as well as a number of governmental and non-governmental organization representatives. The meeting's purpose is to discuss current and future research activities on the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS.

The Secretary-General, in his address on 30 October to the Administrative Coordination Committee (ACC), reiterated the importance he attaches to the fight against HIV/AIDS. As stated by the Secretary-General, "The fight against AIDS has to be energized. We cannot, as a system, not react."

In presenting the statement on behalf of the Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Chamie noted that the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has been at the forefront in the fight against the disease, and has achieved

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many successes in raising the awareness on the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic and in involving government authorities in this issue. As stated by Dr. Peter Piot, Executive-Director of UNAIDS, "It would be a mistake for anyone to underestimate the magnitude of the effort required to bring the epidemic under control." But, he added, "it would be an even bigger mistake to assume that we are not in a position to mobilize the necessary global response."

"According to the UNAIDS report released in June of this year, well over 30 million people are currently infected by the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV)", Mr. Chamie said this morning. More than two thirds of those infected reside in sub-Saharan Africa. In the last three years alone, many countries have seen the number of persons living with HIV double.

The Population Division, which has incorporated the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS into each of its biennial Revisions of world population estimates and projections since 1992, projects that sub-Saharan Africa will lose more than 60 million people to AIDS by the year 2015. "In this region, AIDS is now threatening the economic and social development gains that have been so painfully achieved during the past 30 years", Mr. Chamie said, adding that the AIDS tragedy was also a disease of profound personal and family dimensions, undermining the social structure of societies -- "it sends orphaned children searching for work and turns grandparents into parents".

For additional information and to arrange interviews, contact Bill Hass, Development and Human Rights Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, at tel. (212) 963-0353.

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