Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 22 May 2001
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U.N. Delegates Meet to Discuss HIV/AIDS Declaration to be Approved
During U.N. Special Session Next Month
Representatives from more than 100 countries gathered yesterday for a
five-day special session to negotiate a declaration United Nations
members are expected to approve during the General Assembly special
session on HIV/AIDS next month, the Associated Press reports. The
declaration largely reflects the goal of reversing the HIV/AIDS epi-
demic by 2015 that U.N. members agreed upon in September at the U.N.
Millennium Summit. As it stands, the draft declaration, written by
Penny Wensley, Australia's ambassador, and Ibra Deguene Ka, Senegal's
ambassador, calls for the following:
* Governments to develop by 2003 national strategies and financing
plans to combat HIV/AIDS;
* Countries most affected by HIV to develop by 2003 "time targets"
that will help them reduce HIV by 25% by 2005 among people ages 15-
24;
* All countries to make available by 2005 a "wide range of measures
to prevent AIDS";
* Countries to reduce the number of infants infected with HIV by 20%
by 2005 and 50% by 2010;
* Countries to develop by 2003 programs to increase the availability
of anti-AIDS drugs and to make progress by 2005 in implementing
"comprehensive health care programs" (Lederer, Associated Press,
5/21).
The plan calls for spending up to $10 billion per year by 2005 to
combat HIV/AIDS. Wensley said she expected "major arguments over ac-
cess to antiretroviral drugs, trade laws and sex education" (Leopold,
Reuters, 5/22). "This is no longer just a health problem, it is a de-
velopment catastrophe. ... It is a problem that is raising profound
risks to security and development, not just of individuals, not just
of communities, but of entire countries," Wensley added (Australian
Associated Press, 5/22). However, she said that it is "important to
stress that the epidemic could be contained." A "massive infusion of
resources," "a mobilization of political will" and "financial muscle"
will be necessary to contain HIV/AIDS, Wensley said (Holloway, Agence
France-Presse, 5/22). Delegates will meet for the next four days to
discuss the declaration. The special HIV/AIDS session takes place
June 25-27 in New York City (Associated Press, 5/21). To view a copy
of the draft declaration, click here.
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Five AIDS Experts Talk About the International Community's Role in
Fighting AIDS in Africa on 'NewsHour'
PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" correspondent Elizabeth Farnsworth
last night interviewed several individuals who have "been involved in
confronting the [HIV/AIDS] epidemic worldwide." Jeffrey Sachs, direc-
tor of the Center for International Development at Harvard and chair
of the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and
Health, called the global AIDS fund, proposed by U.N. Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, "a very big breakthrough," as it marks the "first
time the world is getting together in a unified way to fight the
three main killer disease epidemics right now: AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria." Wealthy nations, he explained, will "pool their funds for
the first time into one global trust fund, countries will make pro-
posals to access that money -- that's both governments and civil so-
ciety within those countries." Independent experts will review the
proposals to ensure "a scientific and evidence-based approach for
fighting the diseases. And then finally -- and this is what is still
missing -- we'll have the scale of resources to finally confront
these diseases," Sachs said. Director of the Africa program at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies Stephen Morrison noted
that the trust fund will be a "source of anxiety and skepticism for
some time until it's able to demonstrate some effect. It needs to get
a governing structure that works and that is transparent and that is
very fast and doesn't interfere with existing mechanisms and brings
forward the sort of resources that are out there." Concerning the
global mobilization effort to fight AIDS, he said, "It's historic.
It's risky. There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding it at the moment
but there's also a considerable uncertainty in the most acutely af-
fected countries."
Prevention vs. Care
Dr. Peter Lamptey, executive vice president of AIDS programs for Fam-
ily Health International, added that he considers disease prevention
to be "probably one of the most important needs," but noted that
"there is also an urgent and desperate need for care." Dr. Helene
Gayle, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD and TB Pre-
vention who recently announced her temporary move to the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, responded, "It's not either prevention or
care. It's both. And they need to be integrated. We know from experi-
ence that prevention and care actually reinforce each other." Ambas-
sador Sally Grooms Cowal, former deputy director of UNAIDS, said
there was a "need for real high-level political commitment. Without
that, by all governments overcoming denial where that still occurs,
overcoming complacency in places like the United States where that
still occurs, we won't really tackle this epidemic until we get that
political commitment. It's a real chance for the Bush administration
to provide some leadership in a place where it's unexpected." Lamptey
called Bush's initial pledge of $200 million to the trust fund "a
start, but it's a drop in the bucket. If we get the same response
rate, I don't think we'll be able to raise funds to save the people
who are dying or to monitor an adequate prevention effort to prevent
this epidemic from spreading." Morrison concluded that the "greatest
risk" in the effort to fight AIDS in Africa is that "we do not have
the results within the next two to three years in Africa in the most
acutely affected states. And that creates disaffection and skepticism
and the momentum that has been building within Congress and among the
American people. ... We have a window of two to three years to take
effective action in Africa" (Farnsworth, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,"
PBS, 5/21)
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The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org,
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National
Journal Group Inc. c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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