SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS AIDS overwhelmingly KILLS PEOPLE IN MOST PRODUCTIVE YEARS,

SO BUSINESS should SUPPORT UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO HIV PREVENTION, TREATMENT, CARE

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the gala for the awards for business excellence, hosted by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on 9 June, in New York:

It is an honour to join so many eloquent voices to talk about some of the biggest threats to human health today -- and to the development of whole nations.

AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are among the top 10 causes of death worldwide, and in Africa, AIDS and malaria account for more deaths than anything else.  As some of you heard this afternoon at the HIV/TB Global Leaders Forum, the links between HIV and tuberculosis are deadly:  in Africa, tuberculosis is the leading killer of people living with HIV.

Many of you are in New York for this week’s high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS.  The meeting will discuss my report to the United Nations General Assembly, with updates from a record 147 countries on scaling up towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

A few countries are already on track to achieve universal access to HIV treatment.  Today, 3 million people in low- and middle-income countries are taking life-lengthening antiretroviral drugs.  But this is less than a third of the people who need it.  And for every two people who start taking antiretrovirals, another five become newly infected with HIV.

Why is business particularly affected?  One of the unique aspects of AIDS is that it overwhelmingly kills people in their most productive years.  So the cost to individuals and families can be counted in many ways -- lost wages, major medical expenses, impoverishment, orphaned children.  The same is true of the cost to societies -- the loss of productive and skilled adults, lost ability to provide education, health care or other basics of development, and over the long term, lost economic growth.

What is bad for society is bad for business and industry -- especially when the costs to society are so wide-ranging.  But there are direct costs, too -- spiralling expenses due to absenteeism, the need to recruit and train staff to replace those too ill to work, loss of productivity, increased insurance costs, early pension payouts.

That is why it is right and necessary that business should play an increasingly active role in supporting efforts towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Strengthening partnerships among Governments, civil society and the private sector is key.  I applaud the Global Business Coalition for launching the first of its Impact Initiatives, a pioneering concept pooling the efforts of business, local government, donors and non-governmental organizations to step up HIV testing and help roll out home-based HIV counselling.

As important, the Global Business Coalition partnerships will provide bednets to fight malaria.  Let me take this opportunity to urge all companies present to devote resources in response to my call for universal coverage of malaria control in Africa by 2010.  We must provide bednets, indoor residual spraying, and treatment.  To succeed, this effort requires the full engagement of the business sector.  We need all of you all to help “Cover the Bed Net Gap” and achieve universal coverage.

Equally, we need you to partner with us in the work to fight tuberculosis.  My Special Envoy to Stop Tuberculosis, Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal, has worked tirelessly for the past two years to raise the profile of tuberculosis on national and international development agendas.  Crucially, he has focused on the new threats of TB/HIV co-infection and drug resistant tuberculosis, and on the challenges in the African region.  I am delighted that President Sampaio is here with us tonight to present the award on tuberculosis.

Tonight’s award winners are living proof of what is possible in terms of business sector [involvement] in the three epidemics.  I salute them all.  Above all, I hope that many more will follow their example.  Many multinational companies are increasingly engaged; but most business operations in the countries hardest hit by the three epidemics are run by small and medium enterprises.  They must be brought on board.  Also crucial are the small producers that make up the informal economy, given the vulnerability that comes from informal employment, lack of social protection and limited access to health services.

So as leaders of large companies, you also have a role to play in supporting smaller businesses.  Equally, you can assist national business coalitions, employers’ federations, and governmental organizations that provide support to small and medium enterprises and the informal sector.

The United Nations is fully committed to working with businesses of all sizes and sectors to strengthen the response to the three epidemics.  I applaud the initiative of the Global Business Coalition to prepare a business road map for the next five years to scale up the business response, and I look forward to reading it.

As Peter Piot, the UNAIDS Executive Director, puts it so well, our mission is to make the money work for people on the ground.  You not only have the resources -- you have the capacity to plan and invest for the future.  You have what it takes to play a leading role in the global response to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.  I am grateful to every one of you for your commitment and leadership.

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For information media • not an official record