---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 08:01:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Brian Pazvakavambwa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: AFRO-NETS> The UNAIDS Report The UNAIDS Report --------------- Colleagues, The UNAIDS Report is out. It is available on the UNAIDS web site in pdf format for viewing or downloading: http://www.unaids.org/ In my attempt to whet your appetite to the report, I have reproduced the preface of the report from the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, verbatim. ------ Preface to The UNAIDS Report by Peter Piot Executive Director Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS We live at a turning point in human history. AIDS spotlights all that is strong and weak in humanity: our vulnerability and fears, as well as our strength and compassion, especially for those more vulnerable, less able, or poorer than ourselves. There is still no cure and no vaccine for AIDS. In 1998, 16 000 individuals were infected with HIV every day, and by year's end over 33 million people, a number that exceeds the entire population of Canada, were living with HIV – although we estimate that nine-tenths of them are unaware of their infection. Most people with HIV or AIDS have no access to medication, even to relieve their pain and suffering. More than 12 million adults and children have already lost their lives to the disease. These deaths will not be the last – there is worse to come. Every year AIDS takes new directions: India and South Africa, both relatively untouched only a few years ago, now have among the fastest-growing epidemics in the world. New AIDS epidemics are emerging with frightening speed in Eastern and Central Europe. And sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest-hit region in the world. Globally, young people – those who must build the bridges, create national wealth and conduct the research of the future – experience half of all new HIV infections. In many parts of the world, AIDS is the single greatest threat to economic, social and human development. Even in countries where one adult in ten – or as many as one adult in four – is infected, a conspiracy of shame and silence surrounds AIDS. People who are known to have HIV often suffer rejection and discrimination. This stigma makes the AIDS challenge special. By the same token, people living with HIV have a special role to play in helping society to acknowledge and tackle the epidemic. In the face of these enormous and frightening challenges, the strength to fight back comes from pooling our resources and working together. Founded just three years ago, in 1996, UNAIDS is an innovative joint programme that brings together the expertise and efforts of its seven Cosponsors – UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNDCP, UNESCO, WHO, the World Bank. Each of them has increased action against HIV/AIDS in its own sphere and is actively contributing to the UNAIDS response. The UNAIDS Secretariat and Cosponsors can point to an expanding roster of advances based on partnership with one another and with governments and civil society around the world. For the first time in this epidemic, we can see progress on several fronts: * In the developing world, strong prevention programmes are stabilizing HIV rates in Brazil and Senegal and have turned around major epidemics in Thailand and Uganda. Alongside these nationwide success stories, there are innumerable community-level successes on all continents. * Political commitment has surged in several countries confronting major epidemics, from Brazil to South Africa, from India to Cambodia. * New partnerships have been forged with mainstream youth organizations, religious groups, the corporate sector and global entertainment media. * Pilot projects for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV are starting up in eleven countries, following the demonstration that a short course of antiretroviral therapy can dramatically improve an HIV-infected woman's chances of having a healthy baby. * The first HIV vaccine efficacy trial began in the USA, followed in March 1999 by the first such trial in a developing country, Thailand. Every day, we must balance our fears about AIDS against the certain knowledge that human action can make a difference. This report outlines the challenges that all of us face, and illustrates the difference that individuals and organizations can make by working together. It is my privilege to share with you, in this report, highlights of what our partnerships have achieved thus far. -- Dr. Brian Pazvakavambwa AFRO-NETS Co-Moderator UNAIDS Geneva Tel: +41-22-7914742 Fax: +41-22-7914741 Personal WWW: http://www.bpazva.8m.com/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. Mail administrative requests to `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. For additional assistance, send mail to: `[EMAIL PROTECTED]'.
