'Don't cut back on response to AIDS'

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (Daily Graphic Pg 3)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah, Vienna, Austria,
THE 18th International AIDS Conference opened in Vienna, Austria, last Sunday, with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, expressing worry that governments were cutting back  on their response to AIDS and saying that that should be a cause for great concern.
In a video message to a large crowd of people representing countries of the world,  Mr Ban said now that the world had made significant progress in the global response to HIV and AIDS, it was important for governments to ensure that the gains were not reversed.
"We have made significant progress in the global response.  New infections have declined; access to treatment has expanded; decades-old travel restrictions are being lifted," he stressed.
In the address, the UN boss paid special tribute to people living with HIV (PLHIVs) who made it to the conference.
"Your courage has given strength to people around the world. You have helped people suffering as a result of stigma and discrimination to emerge from the shadows and seek not only treatment but their fundamental  human rights," he said.
He, however, stated that too many of the obstacles still remained to be tackled.
He took the opportunity to call for additional resources for other areas that had been neglected for far too long, such as maternal health in particular.
For his part, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibe, touched on achievements in the global HIV response and said five million people were alive because of treatment, adding that infection rates had dropped by 17 per cent since 2001.
In addition, the world had seen unprecedented activism and the full engagement of people living with HIV, a situation he acknowledged to be helping in combating the epidemic.
In spite of  those achievements, Mr Sidibe expressed some level of apprehension and pointed out that HIV prevention models were coming short and reiterated that governments were cracking down on vulnerable groups, treatment was not sustainable and costs were rising.
He indicated that 10 million people were waiting for any treatment at all and that "we have evidence to point that in too many countries too many clinics that gave people treatment and hope now have to turn people away, including pregnant women who risk passing the virus on to their babies".
The President of the International AIDS Society (IAS), Dr Julio Montaner, expressed disappointment at the attitude of the rich countries who were failing to support HIV and AIDS prevention programmes with the excuse of the fiscal crisis.
The Local Co-chair of the conference, Dr Briggitte Schmied, said AIDS was never just about science but had always been about social justice as well.
"And that is why the AIDS 2010 theme of “Rights Here, Right Now” emphasises the role of human rights in the scale-up of HIV programmes, including the right to life free of stigma and discrimination," she said.
She explained that the theme also emphasised the right to health care, including access to all scientifically sound HIV prevention, and called for support for AIDS prevention programmes and projects.
More than 20,000 participants from all over the world are attending the conference on the theme: "Rights Here, Right Now".