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The present report is submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 58/236 of 23 December 2003, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive and analytical report on progress achieved in realizing the commitments set out in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by the General Assembly on 27 June 2001. The report draws on a broad range of data sources, including national data on key AIDS indicators from 17 countries and territories in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe,1 other national surveys, commissioned studies and evidence-based estimates of coverage for key AIDS interventions. It tracks the current state of the epidemic and summarizes overall progress made in realizing the commitments set out in the Declaration, with a special focus on those set out for 2005. Despite encouraging signs that the epidemic is beginning to be contained in a small but growing number of countries, the overall epidemic continues to expand, with much of the world at risk of falling short of the targets set forth in the Declaration. Similarly, while the expansion of AIDS treatment programmes has brought fresh hope to communities and re-energized community-based prevention and care efforts, the roll out of treatment programmes has been insufficient to avoid a deepening of the impact of the epidemic on some of the world's most vulnerable households, communities and countries. AIDS-related mortality continues to erode the fragile base of human capital on which sound development depends and threatens to undermine critical social institutions in hard-hit countries. The consensus that AIDS is an exceptional problem that warrants an exceptional response holds forth the promise that the global response to AIDS will at last match the epidemic in its scale and complexity. In 2006, a comprehensive report will be released using end-of-year data and with expanded information on all global and country indicators. |
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