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The world is ready to turn back the AIDS epidemic

by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, World Health Organization

We have reported, once again, an increase in the number of people living with HIV. In particular, the number of children living with HIV is far larger than we had realized. This is very bad news. But there is good news too. The world is now ready to turn back the epidemic, learning from those who have blazed a trail, scaling up best practice and confronting AIDS systematically. It will be a long fight.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been spreading widely and deeply. It has taken time to understand it fully and be aware of its consequences. It has taken time to develop the necessary unity of purpose in the response. Also, we have not had access to all the tools needed to tackle it, at an affordable price. Nor have we had the money to do what is needed.

Over the past year we have seen the start of a real change.

Prime ministers, finance ministers, planning ministers and health ministers are focusing on the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS. They know that these effects are relevant for their people. Silence about HIV and AIDS is being broken. Civil society, and in particular people living with HIV have greatly contributed to improved knowledge and to the moral imperative for action. Taboos are starting to erode. All governments confronting the epidemic with a new openness. New information provides solid scientific evidence for the benefits of investing in poor people's health --- including efforts to stem the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

There is intense and widespread political commitment to act. In Abuja, in Genoa and at the UN General Assembly Special Session earlier this year in New York, world leaders have made solemn declarations of their commitment to stem the epidemic, setting targets for reversing its spread and for replacing despair with hope. They have resolved to act within their own nations and together.

Low cost AIDS medicines are becoming available. Prices of life-saving medicines for those living with HIV, including antiretrovirals, have been greatly reduced. The ability of developing countries to take advantage of the flexibility in current intellectual property agreements has been reaffirmed, most lately at the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Doha last month.

Essential health services for people at risk of HIV systems are being designed. Health care regimes for people at risk of HIV, within resource-poor settings, are being studied and characterised. This includes wider access to reliable diagnosis, health systems that can offer effective care, and appropriate treatment regimes are being devised and tested. Health staff are being trained in the management of care for people at risk of HIV infection and AIDS.

New funds are starting to become available: The Global Fund for AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis already has commitments of $1.5 billion before it has been designed. The work to develop this novel, rapid and results based funding mechanism is well advanced, and I am confident that it will become active on time, at the beginning of next year. It is a groundbreaking mechanism designed to achieve full synergy between the public and private sector and non-governmental organizations. I anticipate that the level of resources moving through the fund to the affected countries will increase substantially - as it begins its disbursements and showing results.

World leaders are committed to fighting HIV/AIDS - together with other diseases that precipitate powerlessness and poverty. This implies a dramatic expansion in the proportions of those in need who can access care for HIV and AIDS, and a greatly increased impact of efforts to prevent new infections.

The coming year can be a turning point in the fight against this global epidemic. We have the means and the political will to achieve results. We have seen that communities and countries can turn the tide on AIDS. Our challenge is to take such successes to a global scale. Together, we can win this vital battle for the future of humanity.