NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS WORLD AIDS DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS 1 DECEMBER:
Press Release
NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS WORLD AIDS DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS 1 DECEMBER:
19991124`THE CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND TO FOCUS ON AIDS ORPHANS
The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) is organizing an observance of World AIDS Day, 1 December, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Headquarters with the theme The Children Left Behind. The observance is co-sponsored by the DPI, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (BLCA), the Magic Johnson Foundation, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and the Global Health Council. It will bring together government officials, child-welfare advocates, social scientists, clergy, academicians and policy-makers for a programme of panel discussions on issues related to children orphaned by AIDS. It will be international in scope with a special focus on Africa, where the AIDS problem is most serious.
A working group, chaired by BLCA and with the participation of UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Magic Johnson Foundation, has been developing an Action Plan to meet the special needs of children orphaned by the AIDS-related deaths of one or both parents in the coming millennium, and this Plan will be presented at the observance. A major UNAIDS/UNICEF report on children orphaned by AIDS will be launched at a press conference at 9:30 a.m. on the same day.
At 10 a.m., Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will deliver welcoming remarks and introduce Theo-Ben Gurirab, President of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly, who will open the programme. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will also speak, and Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, will make opening remarks.
Three children orphaned by AIDS -- Precious Thomas, 10, of the United States; Andrew Jackson Okurut, 13, of Uganda; and Khomsan Sang-sue-moon, 13, of Thailand -- will tell their stories to 15-year-old Children's Express reporter Alexandra Burke.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States, will address the audience.
At 11:15 am, a panel on "Child care, child welfare and clinical issues" will include Andrew Billingsley, Professor, University of South Carolina; Urban Johnsson, Regional Director, Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF; Mechai
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Viravaidya, Chairman, Population and Community Development Association, Thailand, and UNAIDS Ambassador; Geri Benoît-Préval, First Lady of Haiti; and Beatrice Were, Coordinator, National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda. This panel will focus on the most pressing needs of children orphaned by AIDS and their caretakers, and how they can be addressed.
At 3 p.m., a panel on "Finance and funding issues" will include Kenneth E. Weg, Vice-Chairman, Bristol-Myers Squibb; Eimi Watanabe, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP; Hirofumi Ando, Deputy Executive Director, Policy and Administration, UNFPA; Callisto E. Madavo, Vice-President for the Africa Region, World Bank; and Eka Esu-Williams, President, Society of Women and AIDS in Africa, Nigeria. This panel will focus on the impact of the growing crisis on developing economies, resources required to address the needs of AIDS orphans, and how funding can be identified and deployed.
The closing segment, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., will begin with brief opening remarks by David Dinkins, Chairman of the Board of Directors, BLCA, and Nils Daulaire, President, Global Health Council. Sandra L. Thurman, Director, White House Office of National AIDS Policy, will introduce Epidemic Africa, a short film by Rory Kennedy. After the film screening, Harry Belafonte, a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF whose focus is on African childrens issues, will speak. He will then introduce Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan. Peter Piot will return to present the Action Plan.
The observance will be webcast live on the Internet. Remarks by speakers will also be available for on-demand playback following the conclusion of the programme. The webcast can be accessed via the special web page created for World AIDS Day at http://www.un.org/events/aids99/.
In conjunction with the observance, the Reverend Jesse Jackson will be the keynote speaker at a private luncheon in the Delegates Dining Room, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb and hosted by Debra Fraser-Howze, President and CEO, National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. and Earvin Magic Johnson, United Nations Messenger of Peace, and his wife, Cookie Johnson; United States Congressional Representative Charles Rangel (Democrat, New York) will also speak.
Following the event at Headquarters, there will be a reception from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by the Magic Johnson Foundation. Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and Miss Universe 1999, who has dedicated her tenure to raising AIDS awareness, will accept a donation of toys from the Magic Johnson Foundation on behalf of children from countries featured in the programme.
According to UNAIDS, by the end of the year 2000 a cumulative total of 13 million children will have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS, and 10.4 million of these orphans will still be under the age of 15. More than 90 per cent of children orphaned by AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa, but in the next decade the numbers of orphans are also expected to increase in Asia, the Americas, Central and Eastern Europe and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In industrialized countries, deaths have declined significantly, but HIV/AIDS remains a deadly menace in the absence of an effective cure.
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World AIDS Day was established on 1 December 1988 by the World Health Organization, and its annual observance was mandated by General Assembly resolution A/43/15. Since its establishment in 1996, UNAIDS has expanded the single days observance into a year-long World AIDS Campaign, with World AIDS Day as a focal point. The overall theme this year is Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children and Young People.
For more information, please call (212) 963-6923 or (212) 963-7346; for media accreditation, (212) 963-6934; for United Nations television coverage, (212) 963-7650. Video footage is available for the media in advance
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