‘AFRICA IS DYING’, SAYS OAU REPRESENTATIVE AS GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS REVIEW OF WORLDWIDE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC

Press Release
GA/9808

‘AFRICA IS DYING’, SAYS OAU REPRESENTATIVE AS GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS REVIEW OF WORLDWIDE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC

Top Priority International Effort Urged to Combat Social, Economic, Security Consequences of Disease

“Africa is dying’, the representative of Togo, speaking on behalf of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), told the General Assembly this afternoon as it took up review of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in all its aspects.

Among a number of speakers from African countries who referred to the devastation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, said the global statistics of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) were frightening: 34.3 million adults and children were sero-positive or had AIDS; the pandemic had already killed 18.8 million people; Africa was the prime region affected by it. It had 24.5 million people infected with the disease. Because of its ravages, the pandemic should be top priority for the international community reflecting a spirit of solidarity.

The pandemic of HIV/AIDS was much more than a simple problem of public health, the representative of Senegal said. It posed a serious problem of development and human security that today was jeopardizing the future of entire societies. The disease was undoubtedly a threat to international peace and security. The time had come to break the silence surrounding it. He said he sometimes had the impression that some people took pleasure in the continuation of the situation where patients were in the south and medicines in the north.

Other speakers dwelt on the worldwide economic and social impact of the disease. The representative of the Russian Federation said his country was intensifying its participation in the international cooperation on the prevention of the spread of the HIV/Aids. It was prepared to participate actively in international efforts. In fact, it had produced both high quality treatments and laboratory equipment at a price approximately half that of the world prices.

The representative of Norway said the HIV virus did not travel by wind or water. It needed a helping hand from human beings to spread, which meant that the international community was not powerless against the epidemic. However, HIV/AIDS was an issued of immense complexity with several dimensions. Poverty

General Assembly Plenary - 1a - Press Release GA/9808 50th Meeting (PM) 2 November 2000

increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, both for individuals and communities; simultaneously, HIV/AIDS led to increased poverty. Gender and age dimensions were apparent because women and young girls seemed more vulnerable than men, for biological, social and cultural reasons.

Also addressing the Assembly were the representatives of Ukraine, United States, Mexico, Thailand, Egypt, Australia, India, Brazil, United Republic of Tanzania, Cuba, Namibia, Mozambique, Nigeria, France (on behalf of the European Union and associated States), and Chile.

The Assembly will meet again tomorrow, Friday, 3 November, at 10 a.m. to continue its review of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects and to consider the strengthening of the United Nations system and cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS).

General Assembly Plenary - 2 - Press Release GA/9808 50th Meeting (PM) 2 November 2000

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this afternoon to discuss the review of the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects.

Before the Assembly was a report of the Fifth Committee on the programme budget implications of General Assembly resolution 54/283 on the review of the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects (document A/55/529), informing the General Assembly that, subject to the provisions for the operation and use of the contingency fund, implementation of Assembly resolution 54/283 could require $1,628,900 over and above the resources in the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001.

The General Assembly also had before it a draft resolution on the review of the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects (document A/55/L.13) sponsored by Austria, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Ukraine. By the terms of the resolution, the General Assembly would decide to convene as a matter of urgency, a special session of the General Assembly, from 25 to 27 June 2001, to review and address the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects, as well as to secure a global commitment to enhance coordination and intensification of national, regional and international efforts to combat it in a comprehensive manner. It would also decide to invite States members of the specialized agencies that are not members of the United Nations to participate in the work of the special session in the capacity of observers. It would further decide that the special session would discuss, among other issues, topics such as HIV/AIDS in Africa, international funding and cooperation, the social and economic impact of the epidemic, human rights and AIDS, gender-specific impacts of AIDS, prevention, access to care and treatment, scientific research and vaccine development. The General Assembly would also decide to convene, within the framework for the special session, open-ended informal consultations of the plenary to undertake preparations for the special session, including the elaboration of a draft declaration.

By the terms of the resolution, the Assembly would decide to include in the agenda of its fifty-sixth session the item entitled “Review of the problem of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in all its aspects”. Further to the resolution, the General Assembly would request the Secretary-General to make the necessary administrative arrangements towards convening the special session and also request him to make available all necessary documentation in a timely manner for the special session. The Secretary-General would also be requested to, with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, provide substantive input to the preparatory process.

The General Assembly would further request the Secretary-General to present a comprehensive report describing, among other things, both the status of the epidemic and the status and level of national, regional and international response and cooperation. He would also be requested to ensure an effective and coordinated system-wide response to preparation for the special session and to carry out a comprehensive public information programme to raise global HIV/AIDS awareness while also building broad international support for the special session and its goals.

The Secretary-General would also be requested to bring the present resolution to the attention of all governments, the relevant specialized agencies and programmes of the United Nations, international financial and trade organizations and other relevant civil society actors, as well as the business sector, including pharmaceutical companies. The resolution would have the Assembly stress the importance of the full and active participation of all States, including least developed countries, in the preparatory consultations in order to provide substantive input to the special session and invite governments to make appropriate voluntary contributions to a trust fund to be established by the Secretary-General for that purpose, and would request the Secretary-General to make every effort to ensure mobilization of resources to the fund.

Consideration of HIV/AIDS in All Its Aspects

The Assembly first decided to take note of the report of the Fifth Committee (document A/55/529).

VOLODYMYR YU. YEL’CHENKO (Ukraine) then introduced the draft resolution on convening a special session on AIDS(A/55/L.13). He said the following States had joined as cosponsors of the text: Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Libya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania and the United States.

He stressed that HIV/AIDS was an epidemic of global proportions with enormous human and social ramifications that went far beyond the province of health alone. It was encouraging that increased attention to the problem had started to bring the first positive results. At the same time, it was clear that only the concerted and coordinated efforts of the international community would be able to successfully address the problem of HIV/AIDS.

In Ukraine, HIV/AIDS had been spreading at an alarming rate in recent years, and according to some it could lead to the loss of up to 2.1 million people by the year 2016. The General Assembly should play the central role in resolving the issue. The draft resolution was intended to enable the General Assembly to make a significant contribution to the struggle of the international community against AIDS by convening the session, which would take place in June 2001.

He strongly believed that the input of the session would provide a powerful impetus to begin a qualitatively new stage in the struggle of the international community against the epidemic.

SANDRA THURMAN (United States) said that after 20 years of embarrassing and unconscionable international under-response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, an historic reversal had now been achieved. The United Nations had started 2000 with United States Vice President Al Gore chairing the first Security Council meeting of the millennium on HIV/AIDS, saying, “No border can keep AIDS out; it cuts across all the lines that divide us. We owe ourselves and each other the utmost commitment to act against AIDS on a global scale”. Today, a special session of the Assembly would be dedicated to combating the plague.

She said her Government had made important progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS and had recognized that the pandemic was a clear threat to international security. President William Clinton had issued an executive order that the United States would no longer take action against countries most affected by HIV which decided to import or manufacture inexpensive versions of lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs patented in the United States. Her Government had also more than tripled its international funding to fight HIV in just over a year, she noted. But now the real work began. Momentum must be maintained. That was why the special session would be so critical. It could be an historic turning point.

That session’s declaration of political commitment must include items such as a recognition that there were 35 million people that were currently HIV positive and that global solutions must include solutions for them, and that all nations should make annual financial commitments to combat HIV/AIDS. Those commitments should be available for the whole world to review and should be reported to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in a transparent and understandable manner. Governments must also undertake policies to destigmatize HIV/AIDS and to protect the rights of HIV-positive people.

MAURICIO ESCANERO (Mexico) said that HIV/AIDS was a pandemic with a global impact, one that threatened the existence and hopes of millions of families and people. This was, without a doubt, one of the greatest challenges facing the international community in the twenty-first century. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and twelve other foreign ministers had launched an appeal to the international community to vanquish this global plague. The pandemic was a challenge that no nation nor entity could battle in isolation. Its most serious concentration was found in developing countries. He consequently urged all members, together with donors in the private sector, to mobilize sufficient financial and human resources to redouble the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and on the world level.

HIV/AIDS was a health problem and required coordinated participation by the most diverse sectors of society on both a national and international level. It was vital to strengthen and ensure a constant supply of drugs and the training of medical personnel. The fight against HIV/AIDS demonstrated that it was imperative to take advantage of technological advances and ensure the access of developing countries to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS. It was thus essential to achieve a reduction in international prices of the drug so that treatment would be affordable.

In conformity with the conviction that international cooperation was fundamental, Mexico had collaborated with UNAIDS on many different levels and had been part of the coordination board since its establishment. He reiterated Mexico’s commitment and hoped that the United Nations special session devoted to the problem of HIV/AIDS would lead to concrete action which would coordinate and intensify measures to fight this disease.

ROLAND Y. KPOTSRA (Togo), speaking on behalf of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), said the statistics provided by UNAIDS were frightening. Some 34.3 million adults and children were seropositive or had AIDS. The pandemic had already killed 18.8 million people. Africa, once again, was the prime area affected by it. It had 24.5 million people infected with the disease. In short, Africa was dying.

Because of the ravages it caused, the pandemic should be a top-priority for the international community reflecting a spirit of solidarity. He welcomed the encouraging initiatives taken already. In January, the Security Council had organized a public debate for the first time on HIV/AIDS, a disease that killed more people than armed conflict did. In Durban, South Africa, a global conference had been organized on the issue. Clearly, all those initiatives were making the national and international opinion aware of the problem. Now it was a matter of moving from words to deeds.

The spread of HIV/AIDS had to be stopped and the current trend had to be reversed, he said. Existing medicines must be made available to those infected, most of whom were in the countries of the South. Africa was committed to finding ways and means to deal with the pandemic. African Ministers of Health had discussed the problem in the World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Ouagadougou in June. An African Summit on HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases would be organized in Abuja in 2001. It showed an African resolve to combat the pandemic. He stressed that the Assembly’s special session should examine, in all its aspects and in the greatest details, the problems of HIV/AIDS, and should issue a strong, action-oriented declaration.

ASDA JAYANAMA (Thailand) said that in Thailand, under the five-year National AIDS Strategic Plan, a holistic approach had been adopted which addressed human, social, economic and cultural aspects of the HIV/AIDS problem. The Plan attached priority to the development of individuals, the family and community and underscored the need to strengthen community awareness and to develop better socioeconomic environments, such as provisions for economic opportunities for those most likely to be exposed to HIV/AIDS. But as HIV/AIDS was basically a medical issue, Thailand had encouraged medical researches and exchanges of relevant knowledge and technologies, both modern and indigenous, on AIDS prevention and control on AIDS medicines. However, for developing countries, including Thailand, access to essential AIDS medicines had not been possible because of the high cost.

He appreciated the effort of the Secretary-General in highlighting the HIV/AIDS issue as an item in the global agenda, and the role of UNAIDS and other agencies within the United Nations system. Since the Security Council had accepted HIV/AIDS as a threat to international security, the special session on HIV/AIDS should only be the beginning of a more concrete programme of real actions, such as tackling the socioeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS, including the plights of orphaned children. The bolstering of cooperation for intensifying researches based on modern technology and indigenous treatments was also required.

It was also necessary, he said, to ensure wider access for developing countries to medical technologies, affordable essential medicines, and improved treatment and care. It would also be useful to view the HIV/AIDS problem in a broader perspective, including through addressing such issues as the negative effects of the WTO trading system on the availability of essential medicines.

HIV/AIDS was a serious threat to the security and well-being of mankind the world over, he said. All had to play their part in the crusade against HIV/AIDS. He urged those with financial resources and/or medical technologies to intervene and be more proactive and generous towards their fellow human beings in dire need of help. Surely, this was one “humanitarian intervention” that no one or no country would oppose.

AHMED ABOULGHEIT (Egypt) said that the problem of the HIV epidemic was not just a health issue -- it had economic, social and psychological consequences. The international community needed to mobilize all its resources and capabilities to face up to this scourge. Africa had the highest rate of infection in the world, at a time when economic conditions made it difficult to combat. Around 25 million Africans were infected with the disease. Out of four and a half million new infections in 1999, four million of these were in Africa alone.

The damages caused by AIDS were not confined to human losses, but also had far reaching social effects, he said. Those included the weakness of the labour force, the necessity of allocating large numbers of resources to containing the disease, transformation of the demographic make up of many countries, and generations of children growing up orphans.

What could the international community do to help, he asked? Fighting AIDS could not be confined to providing more loans, which would burden Africa with additional debt services, or to organizing seminars and workshops. The fight against AIDS should be embodied in a clear collective political commitment, including the provision of the necessary serum to contain the disease at reasonable prices. At present, it was far too expensive -- a person infected with the AIDS virus would require around $12,000 dollars monthly. The international community should alleviate the debt burden so that countries could provide their people with the necessary health services. This issue was too large for any individual country or organization to face up to and the international community must take collective action.

PENNY WENSLEY (Australia) said more than 34 million people worldwide were infected with HIV, with 95 per cent living in developing countries, which made the pandemic a development crisis with devastating consequences for human, social and economic progress. In addressing this health crisis, the United Nations system had focused increasingly on linkage. According to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, "AIDS creates poverty, AIDS deepens poverty and AIDS makes poverty harder to escape from". Therefore, dealing with AIDS required unprecedented action by all nations, particularly cooperative efforts to draw on each other's knowledge to combat this threat. Australia had a significant record of achievement in responding to HIV/AIDS: Annual diagnoses had declined from some 3,000 in 1984 to some 680 in 1999.

She took note of Australia's strong financial support of UNAIDS and its funding of a global HIV/AIDS initiative. In response to the estimated 5 million people with HIV in India, Australia had provided assistance in the north-eastern States and New Delhi. Moreover, an Australia-Indonesia HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention and Care project was now entering its second phase. Australia also had a bilateral aid programme for people with HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea. While the HIV epidemic elsewhere in the Pacific was generally limited, that was no cause for complacency.

He called on national governments and international organizations to recommit to making HIV/AIDS a priority in all development programmes. The special session should provide a focus and a goal for all countries. She expected two key outcomes from the session, namely: improved national commitment and leadership in countries that had yet to fully acknowledge the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and improved coordination leading to effective implementation of proven responses.

In conclusion, she said Australia's positive experience with the development of strategies involving a multiplicity of partners reinforced its view that coordination was of fundamental importance, both to ensure that available resources were utilized most effectively and to secure the outcomes the international community was seeking.

IBRA DEGUENE KA (Senegal) said the HIV/AIDS pandemic was much more than a simple problem of public health -- it posed a serious problem for development and human security that jeopardized the future of entire societies. Africa was the region most-affected by the pandemic. In a fraternal African country, every school day a teacher died of HIV/AIDS. How could that country face such an immense waste of its human resources and how could it meet the challenge of education for young people? he asked. In another African country, life expectancy had dropped to 41 years. It should be 70.

The exponential spread of the disease on the continent made one think that there was a gradual Africanization of the pandemic, he said. It had caused a serious crisis in the development of several countries. The needs of those countries for battling the epidemic went way beyond their means. The disease was undoubtedly a threat to international peace and security. Time had come to break the silence surrounding the disease. The Thirteenth Conference on HIV/AIDS in Durban had been an opportunity for African countries to discuss the difficult access to drugs. In that regard, the pharmaceutical companies had an historic responsibility.

He sometimes had the impression that some people took pleasure in the continuation of the situation where patients were in the South and medicines in the North. He was pleased that his country was referred to as an example in the campaign to battle the spread of the disease. The national prevalence rate was 1.7 per cent, according to UNAIDS. Senegal had internationally recognized researchers who had discovered the existence of type 2 HIV.

His country had reduced by 85 per cent the cost of medicines used to combat AIDS, he said. He stressed that the struggle against HIV/AIDS should never be a pretext to reduce efforts to tackle other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

SHYAMA SINGH (India) hoped that the special session would result in a concrete and action-oriented outcome. AIDS was a global problem with a strong African dimension, since 20 per cent of Africans faced death from AIDS in the next four years. On the worldwide scale, there were approximately 16,000 new HIV infections each day. An immediate and global fight was needed against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, because, apart from the enormity of the human suffering, it had a strong negative influence on economic growth and development of the countries affected. According to the United Nations, the gross domestic product (GDP) of many southern African countries would shrink by at least 14 per cent because of AIDS.

She said India believed AIDS was preventable through awareness; in fact, awareness was the key to prevention. In India the Prime Minister had asked leading government officials to take a personal interest in awareness-building campaigns, and also supported the use of the cinema as a powerful medium in the campaign against HIV/AIDS. Due to social stigma, there were reported cases where AIDS patients had been refused admission to hospitals and private nursing homes. The Indian judiciary had issued judgements to ensure that HIV-infected and AIDS patients were not discriminated against.

She noted that treatment for HIV/AIDS was still prohibitively expensive, since no effective vaccine had been developed. Low-cost treatment must be made available through generic drugs. She called on the special session to address “the abjectly mercantilist use of intellectual property rights involving possible loss to health and damage to other socio-economic objectives”.

The greed of major pharmaceutical companies, even in the face of public emergency, was an issue for the special session, she said. In analyzing the HIV infection, it appeared that the virus did not kill by itself but by depleting the immune system and making the person vulnerable to other infections. Thus, common infections of the respiratory tract could prove fatal. The Government of India considered HIV/AIDS a great challenge, but it must be fought along with efforts to combat underdevelopment and poverty.

MARIA LUIZA RIBEIRO VIOTTI (Brazil) said that General Assembly resolution A/54/283 on the “Review of the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects” represented an historical breakthrough for the United Nations because it stressed the urgent need to address the AIDS pandemic at the global level and recognized that this crisis required the highest level of political commitment. Brazil looked forward to working closely with Member States, UNAIDS and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the special session reach concrete results. She felt the current crisis required a vigorous and systematic effort from the international community in mobilizing human, technical and financial resources to fight the HIV/AID pandemic. She said AIDS devastated families and peoples, undermining the social fabric and overburdening state institutions.

Brazil had actively contributed to the international debate on HIV/AIDS throughout the past two decades, and it believed that the full engagement of the Assembly was timely and imperative because it could make a unique contribution to global awareness about the humanitarian dimension of the AIDS problem. She expressed the view that firm governmental action had effectively helped reduce the rate of infections and alleviate the impact of the crisis in Brazil, which had seen a 50 per cent reduction in AIDS-related mortality rates as a result of a nation-wide HIV/AIDS prevention and combat programme. The Government of Brazil relied on strong public mass media campaigns to halt the spread of AIDS. In addition, since 1996 the Ministry of Health had been providing free universal access to approved medications against AIDS. Some 58,000 people received these prescription drugs on a regular basis, which significantly reduced the number of hospitalizations.

She pointed to Brazil’s exchange of technical expertise with other developing countries as part of its low-cost policies to cope with AIDS. This had proved particularly useful as a successful response in spite of budgetary constraints. In 1997 her country began implementing cooperation programmes with Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa in the management of prevention programmes and the establishment of epidemiological monitoring systems. In 1999 experts from the Brazilian Ministry of Health visited Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, while at the same time working with UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the WHO and the donor community in helping countries curb the spread of AIDS. At the Millennium Summit, heads of State and government resolved to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Brazil called on the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council to facilitate access to adequate treatment at lower costs. She hoped that donor countries would provide support for the struggle against AIDS.

DAUDI N. MWAKAWAGO (United Republic of Tanzania) said that his country was one of the countries south of the Sahara that had been severely affected by the pandemic. For every 10 Tanzanians, one already carried the HIV virus. In response to the severity of the pandemic and its far-reaching health, social and economic implications, his Government had now declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster. Consequently, it had established a national framework for an expanded multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS involving all the collaborating partners under strong and purposeful guidance from the Government. The Prime Minister had, a little more than two months ago, launched the Tanzanian Business Council on HIV/AIDS, which aimed at bringing business concerns together to explore the comparative advantage of these entities in confronting the challenges posed by the pandemic in workplaces, local communities and society in general. His Government had allocated $6 million in the 2000/2001 fiscal year.

He said his delegation was pleased to note that in the crusade against HIV/AIDS they had not been alone. The international community, in particular the United Nations, had taken a number of initiatives in responding to the pandemic. In his country the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had worked in close collaboration with the Government to strengthen the capacity of the national AIDS programme. The initiative taken by the Secretary-General in launching the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa (IPAA) was a welcome one. It was vitally important that Governments worked NGOs, civil society, the private sector and community-based organizations if any meaningful dent was to be made in the pandemic.

OLE PETER KOLBY (Norway) said that the HIV/AIDS pandemic was no longer just a serious health problem –- it had become a social crisis on a global scale. AIDS was now causing more devastation than war in Africa, and it posed a serious threat to human, social and economic development because it eroded many of the gains achieved during past decades, such as life expectancy. However, he urged the world community not to lose hope because “the HIV virus does not travel by wind or water”. It needed a helping hand from human beings to spread, which meant that the international community was not defenceless or powerless against the epidemic. To combat it, strong political leadership was needed. HIV/AIDS was an issue of immense complexity.

He said poverty increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, both for individuals and communities; simultaneously, HIV/AIDS led to increased poverty. Norway called for comprehensive strategies to address those aspects of the epidemic. Also, there were gender and age dimensions because women and young girls seemed more vulnerable than men, for biological, social and cultural reasons. The empowerment of girls and women must therefore become a priority, which meant safeguarding educational opportunities and providing people with the life skills needed to enable them to protect themselves. A third element was the necessity of counteracting the social exclusion and stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS by ensuring the full protection of their human rights.

Norway supported joint efforts and broad partnerships at the local, national, regional and global levels to combat HIV/AIDS, he said. One such partnership was the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa, where national governments, civil society, the private sector and multilateral agencies had joined forces. His Government supported a broader and better coordinated response by the multilateral system, particularly United Nations organizations assessing how to strengthen their contribution to the fight against the disease. The world was living with HIV/AIDS, a devastating epidemic that must be placed at the top of the international community’s agenda, because failure to take this challenge seriously, could result in decades of development efforts being eroded.

YURIY ISAKOV (Russian Federation) said that from the outset many countries had supported the resolution, and his country had been one of them. The Russian Federation attached great importance to the combat against HIV/AIDS, and he noted that, thanks to measures taken, the level of HIV/AIDS victims in his country was comparatively low. However, there were still a significant amount of people afflicted by the disease, particularly adolescents, he said.

The Russian Federation was intensifying its participation in the international cooperation on the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS, he said. The problem was most acute in Africa, where up to 90 per cent of afflicted people lived, making it a primary cause of death and hampering the development of the continent. His Government was prepared to actively participate in international efforts. In fact, it produced both high quality treatments and laboratory equipment at approximately half the cost of world prices. The Russian Federation could also contribute HIV/AIDS specialists and researchers to UNAIDS projects.

One of the many problems concerning HIV/AIDS was the cost of research, he noted. It was therefore essential that efforts be pooled in terms of resources for research. He hoped that the special session would give impetus and enhance the cooperation between nations in the development of an overarching strategy to combat HIV/AIDS. The success of the special session would depend on the quality of the preparatory process. His Government would be actively involved in this process and cooperate on an international, regional and national level.

BRUNO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said it was Cuba's hope that the concerns the General Assembly was sharing today would translate into the mobilization of the international community. HIV/AIDS was a problem of underdevelopment. It was no coincidence that it was spreading among the disadvantaged poor population who lacked resources and education. In order to tackle this scourge, Africa needed cooperation and not censure, development and not interference.

Just to treat the current patients with drugs, African countries would have to spend $57 billion yearly. The debt burden had risen in Africa. Meanwhile, official development assistance was not enough. The resources required to fight AIDS could only be provided by the developed countries -- opulent societies that consumed billions of dollars in cosmetics, tobacco, automobiles, pet food, and the production of weapons.

He said, Cuba was prepared to provide medical personnel free of charge to launch an urgent campaign in sub-Saharan Africa. This should be supplemented by international organizations and the developed world. This was feasible and would not require huge resources. Cuba had trained technicians from developing countries in medicine, and provided medical professionals to Africa. The execution of a national programme for the prevention of AIDS had had a positive impact in his country. Cuba had had virtually no cases of AIDS in children and aid was provided to all HIV cases reported. There was also a low level of transmission, and AIDS victims did not suffer from discrimination. He hoped that Cuba’s experience could show the international community that this effort was feasible.

SELMA ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI (Namibia) said no government could handle the challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic alone; there was an urgent need for the convening of the special session on HIV/AIDS. That would be an important opportunity for governments, the United Nations system, and civil society, including the private sector, to strengthen their collective efforts in formulating appropriate policies and strategies for the prevention and care of infected, as well as affected, individuals, families and communities. She urged all countries to increase their contribution from all available resources, both public and private, to the health sector so as to have an effective delivery system. Experience had shown that there could be real success in reducing new infection, when the state of HIV/AIDS was acknowledged and when there was a properly funded preventive response.

She said the Government of Namibia felt smart partnerships between governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector were crucial in halting the spread and mitigating the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The forthcoming special session should harmonize various initiatives and programmes. He noted that in his role as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the President of Namibia had stated that one of his priorities would be to work toward strengthening SADC’s efforts in the fight against AIDS. In connection, the SADC Summit last August decided to establish the multi-sector SADC HIV/AIDS Technical Sub-Committee. In addition, the Council of Ministers of the community had approved principles to guide negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. There was recognition of the critical role that poverty and malnutrition played in the epidemic.

In Namibia, she said, the health budget was 17 per cent GDP, of which more than 8.3 per cent was spent on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes. Because reduction of sexual transmission of HIV had not been achieved, the Namibian Government had endorsed the establishment of the National AIDS Coordination Programme. She urged the special session to produce a document that was short, concise and result-oriented; her country did not expect “a mere talk-shop”.

CARLOS DOS SANTOS (Mozambique) said that the situation of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique was alarming and was having a devastating effect on its development efforts. Out of a total population of 17 million, in 1999 alone, 700 new infections were estimated to have taken place every day. HIV/AIDS also had a negative effect on infant and maternal mortality, which resulted in a growing number of orphans who required higher levels of expenditure on health care and social security. It was in recognition of this alarming situation that the Government of Mozambique had adopted a National Strategic Plan to Combat HIV/AIDS for the period 2000-2002.

More than ever before, he continued, it was now well understood that the HIV/AIDS pandemic was not only a health problem but also an economic one, with severe implications to the national security of affected countries. It undermined efforts for economic development by causing premature death of workers in general, and in particular, the most skilled and younger ones. It was well known that long periods of disease resulted in the decrease of production and higher social costs for health care, pensions, and social security.

Despite the availability of medicines to minimize the suffering of infected people, most countries could not afford to acquire them, because of their high cost. Therefore he believed a constructive partnership and continuous dialogue involving Government, the business sector, civil society, and other stakeholders was crucial to address this disease.

To tackle the issue of HIV/AIDS, a comprehensive strategy needed to be devised. The most important element of this strategy should be education. Studies in Mozambique indicated that there was a direct relationship between the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the level of education. Thus, the international community’s efforts should be directed at increasing the levels of education and awareness in the world’s population, particularly among youth. This was the best preventive investment the international community could make.

ARTHUR C.I. MBANEFO (Nigeria) said that today HIV/AIDS had been established as the fourth leading cause of death world-wide, with the toll rising every day. This figure had a sobering impact on everyone, but it did not fully convey the depth of the potential tragedy that the world faced since the HIV/AIDS crisis had evolved well beyond the bounds of the health sector. Beyond the human sufferings and misery caused by the pandemic, it was now widely acknowledged that HIV/AIDS had evolved into a development problem. Governments of developing countries, struggling with lingering external debt problems, were forced, from their meager resources, to allocate a disproportionate part of their budget to the health sector.

The disease struck the most productive age group, 15 to 49, thus causing massive losses in production and disruption in vital sectors of the economy such as transportation, agriculture and education. It was important to recognize that the African continent was experiencing the most devastating effect of the disease. According to a United Nations report some 14 million Africans had already died from the disease, while another 24.5 million were now living with the virus. However, African leaders had resolved to confront this pandemic, he said. Programmes had been put in place to reverse the spread of the disease through advocacy, education and prevention.

He said that at a period of unprecedented wealth he was convinced that resources existed to combat the disease. He appealed to Member States to demonstrate their commitment to a common humanity and intensify international cooperation, including the mobilization of all segments of society, particularly the private sector and companies having made some break-through on drugs to provide these drugs, at a concessionary rate to the developing countries.

JEAN-DAVID LEVITTE (France), speaking for the European Union and associated countries, said the pandemic had assumed dramatic proportions. It affected, in particular, children, people of reproductive age and the active population. There was also an economic and social impact. Combating this pandemic meant that the international community should adopt an integrated comprehensive approach, as had been seen in Senegal, Uganda and Thailand. Nothing could be done unless everyone made an effort. Changed behavior could come about only with information campaigns. There must be strengthening of education and health care. The international community must increase access for patients to health care and reject any “stigmatization.”

He said the special session must be an opportunity to reinforce initiatives and promote their implementation. It could also make it possible to build or develop new partnerships like the international anti-AIDS initiative.

The campaign against AIDS should be fully mainstreamed, and the conspiracy of silence must be broken. It would also be beneficial to promote partnerships with the private sector.

Speaking on behalf of France, he said his country had been engaged in the fight against AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa for fifteen years, and had for some time battled for better access to health care for infected people in the countries of the south. France had proposed that an international meeting be organized on access to HIV/AIDS care, which would be able to analyse the situation, to identify the major obstacles, to inform themselves of the best practices and to propose concrete measures to ensure a better access to medical care. This meeting should touch upon all questions relating to the access to medical care, from early detection strategies to psycho-social treatment and to prevention, including the prevention of mother-child transmission. He reaffirmed the commitment of France to make this plan a success.

GERARDO ATEAGA (Chile) said HIV/AIDS was a phenomenon that involved socio- cultural, psychological and economic aspects that called the traditional models of human relations into question, as well as the way social policies were developed. His country had established the National Aids Commission, to promote and facilitate processes aimed at helping the society to prevent and alleviate the biological and psycho-social impact of HIV/AIDS and STDs, based on standard technical criteria and on the principles of participation, decentralization, equity and inter-sectorality.

The search for a cure for HIV/AIDS in Chile was carried out with the involvement of the various health and related sectors, with an active relationship with NGOs, the private sector and scientific societies. Health services management commitments, shared resources, local initiatives and the allocation of funds through competitive bidding were all modalities designed to build local management capacities, and more effective responses to local needs. The allocation of resources for drug treatment and prevention programmes was done on the basis of distribution criteria such as vulnerability, impact of the epidemic and advance of the illness.

He said the strategies adopted had enabled Cuba to make considerable gains. Between 1992 and 1999, the proportion of persons infected by HIV/AIDS had stabilized at a maximum rate of 0.04 per cent of pregnant women who tested positive. The importation of condoms had increased by 483 per cent between 1990 and 1998. Legislation had been drafted to promote non-discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS. A decline had been noted in the rate of prevalence of AIDS-related illnesses and a 100 per cent coverage existed for treatment to prevent the vertical transmission of HIV for pregnant women who tested positive.

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