Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise

Efforts to halt AIDS are falling far short of their targets. Over 25 million people have been lost to AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV this year. The spread of HIV is quickening – with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year. This is despite the number of promises by world leaders to provide services to curb the rates of infection and to bring down deaths.

At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001, heads of state and government committed themselves to meeting a number of key goals to fight AIDS.

By 2005, 90 percent of young people were supposed to know how to prevent AIDS. In reality only 20 percent of young women and 30 percent of young men had this knowledge.

By 2005, 80 percent of pregnant women living with HIV were supposed to be receiving the simple treatment that can prevent their children from contracting the virus. This treatment costs just a few dollars, yet only 9 percent received it.


Source: UNAIDS... Read more...

Preventing AIDS Among Women, Children in Asia-Pacific

The United Nations on Monday called for greater efforts to prevent and treat AIDS among pregnant women and newborns in the Asia-Pacific region, where some 930,000 more people became infected last year.

The call for better integration of HIV treatment and maternal health services was made at the opening of the first Asia-Pacific Joint Forum, a five-day conference of officials, health professionals, NGOs and HIV patients from 22 countries.

The challenge is to prevent the disease and improve nutrition "to provide a holistic package of services for mothers and their children," said Richard Bridle, UNICEF deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

Delegates at the conference are expected to agree on a framework for stronger links between maternal and child health, family planning, sexual health and counseling and testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as other sexually transmitted infections.

According to U.N. figures, the estimated number of HIV-positive women in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 16 percent to over 2 million between 2001 and 2004. Globally, the increase was 8 percent. The number of new infections among children and young people is also growing.

In 2005, an estimated 8.3 million people, including 411,000 children, were living with HIV in Asia-Pacific, with 82,000 infected that year alone. About 90 percent of these children were infected as a result of mother to child transmission.

During the conference, the delegates will promote a strategy for the prevention of primary HIV infection in mothers and young children. "Linking HIV prevention efforts with reproductive health care can strengthen and improve access to both," said Dr. Chaiyos Kunanusont, an adviser to the United Nations Population Fund.
"Millions of women who don't know their HIV status have an unmet need for effective contraception.

Integrated services would enable them to protect themselves and also reduce HIV transmission to their
children," Kunanusont said. A U.N. statement pointed out that globally, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, governments have agreed to reduce maternal mortality, tackle infant and child mortality, and to prevent the further spread of HIV and AIDS."Yet in many countries, public health budgets remain low, access to health services, especially in rural areas, remains inadequate," it said.

http://www.iht. com/articles/ ap/2006/11/ 06/asia/AS_ GEN_Asia_ AIDS.php

Posted by: "AIDS ASIA" AIDS_ASIA@yahoogroups.com Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:10 pm (PST)