Press Conference by Executive Director of Joint

 

United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

 

The head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS said today that, while the number of people in low- and middle-income countries that had gained access to antiretroviral therapy had increased by 10-fold in the past five years, a “prevention revolution” was needed to ensure more targeted prevention measures and provide broader access to treatment — especially for women and at-risk groups.

“We are coming up against agreed targets for universal access [to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support] and, with 5 new people infected for every 2 we put on treatment, clearly we need to mobilize a major push for prevention,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, during a Headquarters press conference tied to the General Assembly’s yearly review of the implementation of the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.  (See Press Release GA/10946)

With the 2010 deadline for universal access at hand and the 2015 deadline for attainment of the Millennium Development Goals rapidly approaching, he said, Member States must step up their efforts to expand universal access to “reach the unreachables”.  The Secretary-General’s most recent report on the global fight against HIV/AIDS clearly demonstrated that the international community was making progress.

In the past five years, the number of people being treated for the disease had increased 10-fold to some 4 million, and the number of deaths had dropped dramatically, including in African countries such as Botswana and Uganda.  He also said that what was most encouraging was that new infections had dropped by 17 per cent, which for Africa translated into some 400,000 fewer people contracting the virus.

At the same time, he said, the Secretary-General’s report highlighted the sobering fact that some 10 million people worldwide were still in need of treatment or access to medicines.  Moreover, studies showed that for every 2 people put on antiretroviral medications, 5 more contracted the virus.  Another reason to remain vigilant was that the epidemic was continuing to expand its reach among, and tighten its deadly grip on, women, as upwards of 850,000 women died every year from the disease.

To tackle those and other challenges, UNAIDS was calling for a “prevention revolution” to ensure a new generation of treatments was made available, more affordable and accessible.  Mr. Sidibé said UNAIDS was also pressing stakeholders to integrate global AIDS commitments with the maternal and child mortality targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

Responding to questions, he said it was time to look at HIV/AIDS in all its aspects, including by tackling cultural issues such as circumcision, which could reduce the number of infections by 60 per cent.  “But if we don’t foster the link between science and cultural change, it will not happen”, because of cultural and religious barriers and other social factors that made the subject taboo.

A part of that challenge was making sexual education the norm for the world’s 1.2 billion young people, he added, saying that that exercise was critical to changing mindsets and paving the way for new attitudes about prevention and treatment, both of which were critical to UNAIDS’ agenda.

To another query, he reiterated his concern about the growing impact of the virus on women and girls.  He said that, while progress had been made on many fronts over the devastating 30 year arc of the epidemic, 16 million women had been infected.  The major challenge was bolstering women’s position in society.  No efforts should be spared in empowering women and girls and to reduce domestic violence and abuse.  For example, he said that, in Swaziland, among girls 14 to 25 years old, one third had experienced some form of sexual violence.  So it was clear, he continued, that issues such as gender equality and violence against women must be addressed.  To that end, he welcomed the Secretary-General’s recent push to address that issue.

Finally, he hailed the steady success in treatment and prevention achieved by Brazil, and said that UNAIDS and other agencies were drawing on that country’s experience to build horizontal cooperation, including technology transfer, especially with African nations.  Brazil had been very successful in ensuring that civil society and Government worked in harmony to combat the disease.  In that regard, he also highlighted UNAIDS “From Soweto to Rio de Janeiro” initiative, launched ahead of the upcoming football 2010 FIFA World Cup, to mobilize the global community on preventing HIV transmission, especially mother to child transmission.  He said that, thus far, team captains from 15 countries had signed on to the campaign [Brazil will host the world cup in 2014].

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For information media • not an official record