Note No. 5663

                                                            27 April 2001

Note to Correspondents

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO APPEAL TO DONORS FOR LARGE-SCALE MOBILIZATION

IN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

Commitments to Global Fund to Be Urged in Speech

To Council on Foundations, on 30 April in Philadelphia

Continuing his drive to spur a large-scale mobilization against AIDS, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will take his appeal to donors in an address to the Council on Foundations, on 30 April in Philadelphia.

The appeal will be the second part of a “one-two punch”, according to spokesman Fred Eckhard.  It follows a speech on 26 April to leaders gathered at the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases, in Abuja, Nigeria.  There, the Secretary-General outlined key priorities in the fight against AIDS and called for a major mobilization of political will and resources commensurate with the enormity of the crisis.

In Philadelphia, the Secretary-General will ask Council members to join a coalition of governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to launch a worldwide response to the HIV/AIDS crisis at the United Nations special session on HIV/AIDS, which will be held from 25 to 27 June in New York.

The Secretary-General is expected to elaborate on the global fund that he has proposed to channel resources to the battle against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.  In Abuja, he said that the “war chest” needed to fight AIDS alone would require some $7 to $10 billion annually for an extended period.

The Philadelphia event is the annual conference of the Council on Foundations.  Its membership of over 1,800 foundations had some $318 billion in combined assets and made grants totalling an estimated $14 billion in 1999.

Media accreditation for Philadelphia:  Julie Rosenbaum, Council on Foundations.  Tel. (202) 467-0283, Cell phone (202) 262-1893.

Media contacts:  Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, New York, tel: (212) 963-7160; e-mail: de-almeida-e-silva@un.org.  Pragati Pascale, United Nations Department of Public Information, New York, tel: (212) 963-6870; e-mail: pascale@un.org.  Anne Winter, UNAIDS Geneva, tel: (41-22) 791-4577; e-mail: wintera@unaids.org.

On the Internet: www.un.org/News, www.un.org/ga/aids, www.unaids.org

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