There are two wrong approaches to the global threat of HIV/AIDS.

One is to underestimate or ignore it. The other is to despair. The first can only be described as irresponsible. The second is unjusified.

No continent, no society, and no social group is immune from this scourge. Twenty-two million people have already died – and last year?s total of three million was the highest yet. Adolescents and children are dying every day, and in every country. So are their parents – young adults in what should be the prime of their lives.

In some African countries today one quarter of the population is infected; the workforce is being decimated; and decades of progress in raising living standards and life expectancy are being wiped out. The same will soon happen to countries in other parts of the world – Asia, eastern Europe, the Caribbean – unless they take drastic action now.

But action is possible. Despair is not justified, for we are not powerless against this epidemic.

Even poor and middle-income countries can protect themselves by combining prevention and treatment - as Brazil, Senegal and Thailand have shown. Even the worst affected countries can confront the disease and contain its spread, as Uganda has shown.

In the last few months, the world has at last woken up.

International drug companies, responding to world public opinion and to competition from generic manufacturers, have slashed the price of antiretrovirals and other AIDS-related medicines in the poorest countries. Providing treatment to infected people in those countries is no longer an impossible dream.

In Africa political leaders, too, have faced up to the problem as never before.

Two months ago, at the African summit in Abuja, Nigeria, I sensed a new spirit of urgency. All the nations represented there undertook to increase the share of resources they devote to health, and to HIV/AIDS in particular.

At Abuja, I laid out five key objectives for the world-wide struggle:

First we have to prevent the disease spreading further, above all by teaching young people how to avoid it.

Second, we must stop the cruellest infections of all – those from mother to child.

Third, we must bring care and treatment within reach of all those infected. This is not an alternative to prevention, but an essential complement to it, since people are more willing to take HIV tests when they know there is the hope of treatment.
Fourth, we must step up the scientific search, both for a vaccine and for a cure.

And fifth, we must protect those whom AIDS has left most vulnerable – starting with the orphans.

Those five objectives were chosen after wide consultation among all those involved in fighting AIDS. They form the nucleus of a strategy on which all can agree. And they are achievable.

All this can be done, in the whole of the developing world, for an annual expenditure of $7 to 10bn, provided it is sustained for the long term.

That represents a five-fold increase on what is now being spent. But it is only a quarter of New York City?s budget. The world can surely find this amount.

Some of it will be found within developing countries. But clearly international solidarity is needed. And I believe the public in developed countries is now ready to show it. They understand that it is in their self-interest to do so, since no country can be unaffected by a global disaster of this magnitude.

Governments, foundations, commercial companies, private individuals – all have been coming forward in the past few months, wanting to play their part in the global effort.

Some already know how they want to spend their money, and to whom they should give it. But others want to contribute to a global fund, which can make sure all five priorities are addressed, and can simplify the application procedures for countries that need assistance.

Several countries, one major corporation, and countless individuals have already pledged money for this Fund. Today in New York the UN General Assembly begins a Special Session on HIV/AIDS, during which I am sure more countries will announce contributions.

Every day lost is a day when over ten thousand more people become infected with HIV, and many millions of people living with AIDS suffer unnecessarily.

We can beat this disease. And we must. But the longer we delay, the higher the cost will be.

The author is Secretary-General of the United Nations.