There is no need for me to repeat the terrible statistics of the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is a cause of enormous suffering, premature loss of life and a terrible barrier to development - especially in sub-Saharan Africa which is already the continent suffering the largest and deepest poverty. But no country or people can be complacent. HIV/AIDS is spreading across the world, particularly in Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Russia. Everyone is vulnerable. And there is still no cure. It is absolutely inevitable that the pandemic will spread to more people and more countries before things start to get better. We must urgently do more to prevent this spread.

We have, I am afraid, no reason to congratulate ourselves on the holding of this meeting. We have been aware of the infection for 20 years and that it was spreading out of control for at least 10 years. And we must not fool ourselves that the holding of a UN Special Session leads to any automatic improvements in prevention or treatment. Indeed it is my strongly held, view that we waste too much time and energy in UN Conferences and Special Sessions. We use up enormous energy in arguing at great length over texts that provide few, if any, follow up mechanisms or assurances that governments and UN Agencies will carry forward the declarations that are agreed. It was agreed, for example, at Cairo +5 in New York  - that we would all work for a 25% reduction in transmission of HIV/AIDS in young people in worst affected countries by 2010. We should now be asking every country, UN agency and government to report annually on progress against  these already agreed targets rather than launching another general declaration. However, as we are here, we must make the best possible use of this meeting and try to use it to energise a world wide effort to contain the spread of the disease

We are all aware that some countries have taken brave and intelligent action which has slowed down the spread of the disease. Uganda and Thailand have set an important example in successful prevention. Prevention remains the most important work because there is still no cure for HIV/AIDS. We must, of course, press on with research for a vaccine and for Microbicides. We must make anti-retroviral drugs available, where we can do so responsibly. But let no one pretend that anti-retrovirals are a cure or that whatever the price, most people who are infected will receive them. The truth is that most poor people who are infected are not served by any basic health care system and most suffer with poor nutrition and little basic care. We must do more to make condoms and drugs available but be absolutely clear that without a much greater commitment to building basic heath care systems, the overwhelming majority of the more than 30 million people who are already infected will not be helped.

Twenty years of experience in our own country and internationally has taught us that if we are to prevent the spread of the infection we must speak openly about the epidemic and deal with stigma and discrimination head on. We know which behaviors lead to greatest risk of transmission. We must in each of our countries directly, openly and honestly engage in a debate on ways to promote and protect the health of those at greatest risk of HIV infection. This means the vulnerable groups which all can accept - children, adolescents and refugees - but it must also means the other groups who have a heightened risk of infection. And let me say to those countries and organisations that do not wish to mention these high risk groups, that if you fail to face up to the need to take action to protect such groups, you will sentence your countries to higher rates of infection. All countries have in their populations men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers who have clients and intravenous drugs users who have sexual partners. If we fail to work together to remove the denial, the stigmatization and the discrimination that exists we will fail to prevent the spread of the infection. Open and honest debate, and the sharing of knowledge and information is essential if we are to make progress in tackling HIV/AIDS.

Work must also continue to search for a vaccine. In Europe and America the pharmaceutical companies are driving forward this work. But we must ensure that work continues to develop a vaccine for the strain prevalent in Africa and other poor countries. We salute IAVI's initiative in organising the funding for the important work that is taking place in Nairobi and South Africa and call on development agencies and charitable foundations to continue to fund this work. It is also crucial that we take forward urgently the development of a microbicide so that women are in a position to protect themselves. More than half the new infections are amongst young women who frequently lack the confidence or power to refuse sex or demand the use of a condom. A microbicide would give them the power to protect themselves. I hope the pharmaceutical companies and others will join Rockefellar, Population Council, the Medical Research Council and ourselves in ensuring this work is taken forward.

I want to conclude with a word on the proposed Global Health Fund, which needs the support of this meeting, the G7 and the whole international community, so we can have it up and running by the end of this year. This fund is designed to provide drugs and commodities for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. It cannot fund the development of health systems - they must be provided by governments with the help of development agencies. But the health fund can ensure that drugs are available, at reasonable prices and encourage the development of effective delivery systems. We want to model the fund on the success of GAVI, the Global Vaccine Initiative, which has increased the availability and reduced the price of vaccines in the poorest countries. We believe the Global Health Fund can bring down the price and increase the supply of drugs and commodities for TB, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria and also encourage research for new drugs. To be a success it needs, like GAVI, a small effective secretariat and a lean governing body that includes representatives of the UN system, development agencies and developing countries. The UK stands ready to contribute $200 million to the fund if these conditions can be agreed.

 My hope - Chair - is that this meeting will spur us all into action. We know what needs to be done. The lessons of best practice are summarised in the declaration. We must go home and implement. There have been enough conferences and declarations. What we need now is urgent and much more effective action on a much wider scale to prevent the terrible suffering, loss of life and costs to development that this terrible disease is inflicting across the world.