World AIDS Day Forum at Saint Bart’s (30 November)
Annan Calls for Greater Accountability in Efforts to Stop HIV/AIDS
Press Release
New York, 30 November--United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan marked World AIDS
Day at an interfaith ceremony today with a call to leaders at all levels to intensify efforts
to halt and reverse the spread of AIDS.
“The stakes in the struggle against AIDS are higher now than ever,” Mr. Annan said. “We cannot
risk letting the advances that have been achieved unravel; we must not jeopardize the heroic
efforts of so many. The challenge now is to deliver on all the promises that Governments have
made.”
Speaking at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York, the Secretary-General said that
accountability, the theme of this World AIDS Day, “requires every President and Prime
Minister, every parliamentarian and politician, to decide and declare that ‘AIDS stops with
me’.”
He said that accountability requires these leaders to strengthen protection for all vulnerable
groups -- whether people living with HIV, young people, sex workers, injecting drug users, or
men who have sex with men. Accountability demands that these leaders work for real, positive
change that will give more power and confidence to women and girls, and transform relations
between women and men at all levels of society.
“But accountability applies not only to those who hold positions of power. It also applies to
all of us. It requires business leaders to work for HIV prevention in the workplace and in
the wider community, and to care for affected workers and their families. It requires men to
help ensure that other men assume their responsibility -- and understand that real manhood
means protecting others from risk. And it requires every one of us help bring AIDS out of
the shadows, and spread the message that silence is death,” said the Secretary-General.
UNAIDS recently reported that an estimated 39.5 million people in the world are living with
HIV, with 4.3 million people becoming infected in 2006. More than half of these new
infections-- 2.8 million (65%) - occurred in sub-Saharan Africa; significant increases were
also reported in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of
AIDS-related illnesses. The report also found that where HIV prevention programmes have not
been sustained, infection rates are staying the same or going back up.
As the global AIDS epidemic continues to grow, the UNAIDS report found evidence that some
countries that had showed earlier successes in reducing infections have either slowed or are
now experiencing increasing infection rates. However, declines in infection rates are also
being observed in some countries, and positive trends in the sexual behaviour of young people
have been found.
Mr. Annan said in the 25 years since the first case was reported, AIDS has changed the world,
killing 25 million people and infecting 40 million more. The epidemic has become the world’s
leading cause of death among both women and men aged 15 to 59.
“It has inflicted the single greatest reversal in the history of human development,” said the
Secretary-General, and “… it has become the greatest challenge of our generation.”
He said he was encouraged by changes in the world’s attitude towards the disease over the
past 10 years, during which the fight against HIV and AIDS has started to be taken as
seriously as it deserves.
“Financial resources are being committed like never before,” he stated. “People have access to
antiretroviral treatment like never before. Several countries are managing to fight the
spread like never before. But as the spread continues, we need to mobilize like never
before.”
During his tenure, Mr. Annan has helped mobilize international support for a sustained global
campaign to fight HIV and AIDS. In 2001, determined to help the world step up its response to
HIV/AIDS, the Secretary-General issued a global Call to Action identifying key priorities,
from prevention to treatment. Declaring the battle against AIDS his personal priority, the
Secretary-General called for a “war chest” of $7-10 billion per year to be spent on the fight
against the epidemic.
In response to a call from the Secretary-General, in 2002 the world rose yet again to the
formidable challenge to confront the AIDS epidemic with the founding of the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, of which Mr. Annan is a patron. To date, US $6.8 billion
has been committed in 136 countries. The Secretary-General’s advocacy also has helped to
increase access to drugs and diagnostics in poor settings, particularly from some of the
world’s major pharmaceutical companies working on HIV and AIDS.
In his remarks tonight, Mr. Annan vowed to remain on the forefront of fighting HIV and AIDS,
stating, “As long as I have strength, I will keep spreading that message, [that silence is
death].”
At the event, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, and other speakers, including
a representative of the movement of people living with HIV/AIDS, joined the Secretary-General
in urging the world to Keep the Promise of stopping AIDS.
Media Contact:
For more information, please contact:
Newton Kanhema – United Nations Department of Public Information +1 212 963 5602 or kanhema@un.org,
and Franck Kuwonu +1 212 963 8264 or kuwonu@un.org.