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HIV/AIDS chain reaction threatens sustainable development
UNAIDS Press Release. (www.unaids.org), 30 August 2002.
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The head of the United Nations HIV/AIDS programme has warned that meaningful sustainable development cannot be achieved if the HIV/AIDS epidemic is allowed to devastate human resources and capacities.
"If we continue to allow HIV/AIDS to drain human resources at an increasing rate, sustainable development will be impossible," said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "Quite simply, if you do not survive, you cannot develop." Dr Piot was speaking to the plenary session of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), taking place here from 26 August to 4 September.
A report released by UNAIDS for the Summit warns that by robbing communities and nations of their greatest asset - their people - HIV/AIDS drains the human and institutional capacities that drive sustainable development. This distorts labour markets, disrupts production and consumption, erodes productive and public sectors and ultimately diminishes national wealth. As HIV/AIDS prevalence rises, poverty deepens, and in combination with other setbacks, HIV/AIDS can trigger food crises. Some of the countries worst affected by HIV/AIDS face the prospect of 'un-developing' - seeing their development achievements dissolve in the wake of the epidemic.
Particularly affected by this chain reaction are young people, since half of all people newly infected with HIV are under 25. "An AIDS-ravaged generation of youth constitutes not only a human tragedy, but a basic threat to communal security," Dr Piot said.
Dr Piot told world leaders at the Summit that joining forces is essential if the epidemic is to be fought effectively. To do so requires significant broadening of prevention programmes, dramatic expansion of treatment, and a lessening of the impact of HIV/AIDS on social and economic development. Key to these policy achievements is the integration of HIV/AIDS responses into wider development strategies, with HIV/AIDS impact assessments becoming commonplace.
Progress at the national level also requires political action, including consistent commitment and high-level support from a variety of groups in society. Another priority is greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS in shaping policies and responses to the epidemic, vital to overcoming stigma and discrimination. Finally, the protection of young people and women - the growing impact of HIV/AIDS on women is evidence of glaring gender inequality - is paramount if the response to the epidemic is to be effective.
Without human capacity development - the will, skills, capabilities and systems needed to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS - the epidemic's impact and spread will continue. Developing human capacity requires creating a culture of facilitation whereby organizations involved in HIV/AIDS responses promote leadership on HIV/AIDS in the public, private and community sectors, learn from those sectors, apply the lessons learned, and collaborate across institutions and locales.
Priorities will be so much sand in the wind without financial commitment, however. "Investing in AIDS is good investment," said Dr Piot. "AIDS spending in low- and middle-income countries needs to rise to US$10 billion a year, three times the current level." Meeting this goal will require greater investment not only by donors but by developing countries themselves, underlining the need to build their capacity to contribute by lightening their debt load.
In two decades, HIV/AIDS has killed more than 20 million people. By 2020, unless concerted and effective action is taken now, another 68 million risk premature death in the 45 most affected countries. For example, a study in Zambia shows that two-thirds of urban households that have lost their main breadwinner to HIV/AIDS have seen their income fall by 80%; in combination with other setbacks, HIV/AIDS can trigger food crises, even famine, and up to 13 million people face possible starvation in southern Africa this year; transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child is increasing maternal and child mortality rates.
Global consensus already exists on the urgency of fighting HIV/AIDS. Last year, at the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, world leaders unanimously adopted a Declaration of Commitment that provides a benchmark for action and accountability. The Declaration has already been endorsed in the action agenda of the WSSD. Similarly, the Millennium Development Goals commit to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 but HIV/AIDS is a block to their achievement. The recent creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and contributions to it are further evidence of a growing commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Worldwide, at end 2001, 40 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, of whom five million were newly infected during the year. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest hit region, with some 3.5 million new infections last year, followed closely by the Caribbean. HIV/AIDS prevalence continues to rise alarmingly even in parts of Africa where the epidemic is already well-entrenched. The epidemic is spreading rapidly in Eastern Europe and Asia, including some of the most populous countries in the world. |
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