Twenty years after the epidemic burst upon us, we applaud the holding of this 26th special session
of the General as a means of reviewing what has been done in the area of HIV/AIDS, regard
being had to the fact that the last decade has seen new globalization processes and advances in
information techniques, as well as in antiretroviral therapy that have changed the image of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. I have the honor to represent Guatemala in this important gathering.

Guatemala is characterized by contrasts and ethnic diversity, with a population that is multicultural,
multiethnic and multilingual. It is estimated that the population groups most exposed to HIV
transmission are mainly in the urban areas. The first known AIDS case in Guatemala was in 1984
acrd, by 30 April of this year 4,010 cases had been reported. Nevertheless the National Program
estimates that 505 of cases go unreported.

The epidemic involves cases of sexual transmission (94$), blood transmission (2%) and
mother-to-child transmission (4%),. The age group most affected is that of persons between 15
and 49 years old, within which group the concentration is on those between 15 and 29. Initially
the man/woman ratio was 7 to 1; it is now 2.5 to 1.

The Guatemalan Government's determination to combat HIV/AIDS has been reflected in the
Health Code, which assigns to the Ministry of Public Health responsibility for evaluating and
supervising actions aiming to control sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including HIV/AIDS,
with the participation of various sectors. Moreover a general law has been enacted concerning
STD/HIV/AIDS, which declares the disease to be a social problem of "national urgency", a sum
of five million quetzales (about US$ 640,000) being budgeted to finance the activities carried out
by the Ministry of Public Health through the national STD/HIV/AIDS program. This law contains
provisions on the human rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS, and also mandates the ministry
of Education to include in the curricula a section on human sexuality, including STD/HIV/AIDS, as
from the fifth grade of primary school.

In this context the Ministry of Health, in coordination ,with other ministries, including the Education
Ministry and the. Ministry of the Interior, civil society organizations, international

 organizations and UNAIDS, elaborated and set in train the National 1999-2003
STD/HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan, which lays down the strategic objectives and priority lines of
action to be pursued by those institutions.

Within the National Health Council, an agency that provides advisory services to the sector, the
Ministry of Public Health has initiated actions that aim to create the National Unit to provide care
to persons living with HIV/AIDS: a commission has been set up to manage this Unit as a
decentralized and autonomous agency, which is to receive contributions from sectoral institutions
that carry out activities in the area (NGO's and the Guatemalan Social Security Institute), as well
as the institutions of organized civil society that combat AIDS. This effort aims to reduce the
socioeconomic impact of dealing, as a public health matter, with this social and public health
problem of the Guatemalan population, as well as to promote the integration and complementarity
of the contributions of the institutions I have mentioned.

The principal functions of this Unit will be to carry out mother-child prevention programs,
including diagnostic tests, standardize diagnostic systems, offer antiretroviral treatments, provide
outpatient services and carry out investigations in connexion with HIV/AIDS. It will similarly take
universal precautionary measures in the provision of health services and will carry out information,
education and communication plans that will enable us to achieve the objective of reducing
transmissions through this means. We shall proceed in the same manner regarding mother-to-child
transmission.

Likewise the Ministry of Public Health has set up the HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Analysis
Commission, whose objective is to determine permanently the magnitude and significance of the
problem, in order to orient the process by which decisions and interventions are taken in the area
of promotion, prevention and recovery. There has also been created a Commission for Access to
Antiretroviral and Reactive HIV Drugs, with the object of establishing strategies to render better
quality antiretroviral drugs more accessible and available at the lowest possible cost, from the
economic and functional viewpoints. We shall step up the search for joint solutions with the
sectoral institutions, including the Social Security Institute, so as to be able to make those drugs
accessible and offer this alternative service to persons living with HIV/AIDS.

As the representative of Guatemala at this session, I wish to express the determination of my
country to assume the various undertakings contained in the Declaration on the struggle against

HIV/AIDS, in order to strengthen and motivate the leaders at all levels of society, as well as in the
governmental structure. We consider it necessary, likewise, to revise and implement the strategies
and plans for national and multisectoral financing in order to pursue the fight against HIV/AIDS,
face up to the resultant stigma, silence and rejection of reality, with due regard to the gender and
age aspects of the problem.

HIV/AIDS, together with its human rights aspects, are part of our present pork program, but,
being aware of the new perspectives of the Declaration, ore ratify our commitment to redouble
our efforts in this area.

Finally, I wish to state our Government's pledge to continue observing all the commitments that the
adoption of the Declaration will entail. We are conscious, indeed, of the need to unify our efforts,
at the national, subregional, regional and global levels, in order to contain the progress of this
pandemic, which is causing so much suffering to humanity.