Representatives from 55 European
and Asian countries on Tuesday afternoon in Dublin, Ireland, are expected
to sign a declaration calling for increased funding and support for the
fight against AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Reutersreports
(Long, Reuters, 2/23). The United
Nations Development Programme last week said that the regions have
the world's fastest growing HIV epidemics -- the number of HIV-positive
people in the regions has increased from about 30,000 in 1998 to as many
as 1.5 million. The declaration is the culmination of a two-day conference,
titled "Breaking
the Barriers -- Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia,"
which is being hosted by the European
Union Presidency, a position currently held by Ireland (Kaiser
Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/23). The declaration is expected to include
a pledge to provide antiretroviral drugs to all HIV-positive people in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia by 2010 (Reuters, 2/23). A draft
of the declaration pledged that by late 2005, 80% of HIV-positive injection
drug users and at least 100,000 other HIV-positive people would be receiving
antiretroviral treatment. In addition, the draft said that mother-to-child
HIV transmission must be eliminated by 2010. The plan fits with the World
Health Organization's initiative to provide antiretroviral drug access
to three million people by 2005. The countries did not pledge a specific
amount of money to carry out the declaration (Wielaard, Associated Press,
2/24). In addition to member country officials, representatives from UNAIDS,
WHO, UNICEF, the World
Bank, the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other groups are attending
the conference, which is the first international forum aimed at discussing
the effect of HIV/AIDS on Europe and Central Asia (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 2/23).
Speakers
Ireland pledged to pressure other E.U.
nations to include the fight against HIV/AIDS in the E.U.'s development
plan and to convince drug companies to provide antiretroviral drugs at
lower prices (Associated Press, 2/24). Irish musician and AIDS advocate
Bob Geldof, who was the conference's guest speaker, said that there has
been "$14 billion lying in the [European Development Fund] for the past
two decades" and that money could be used to fight AIDS. Ireland's Minister
of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights Tom Kitt, who chaired
the conference, called on the European Union to appoint a special ambassador
to coordinate the member nations' responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Other
speakers included U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and South African Archbishop
Desmond Tutu. Annan, speaking at the opening of the conference, said that
the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the most globalized disease in history and that
it is a "deadly mistake" to assume that AIDS is mainly an African epidemic
(de Breadun, Irish Times, 2/24). Tutu on Monday criticized the Roman
Catholic Church for its opposition to condoms. "It is irresponsible to
say sex education and supplying condoms encourages promiscuity," Tutu said.
He encouraged governments, nongovernmental organizations and churches to
"speak out about condoms and safer sex" (Quinn,
Irish Independent,
2/24). |