UN Secretary-General Annan speaks out about HIV/AIDS-related stigma

The worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic has created a terrible burden for millions of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Relieving it requires improved health care, better access to treatments, more vigorous prevention efforts, more effective socail outreach, and support for those most vunerable - particularly orphans. But there is another terrible burden imposed by HIV/AIDS, which each and every one ofus has the capacity to relieve: the burden of HIV-related stigma. The impact of stigma can be as detrimental as the virus itself. The solitude and lack of support it imposes are deeply wounding to those who suffer it. It should also hurt every one of us, for it is an affront to our commom humanity. Some people with HIV/AIDS are being denied basic rights such as food or shelter, and dismissed from jobs they are perfectly fit to perform.

They may be shunned by their community, or most tragic of all, by their own family. The fear of stigma leads to silence, and when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS, silence is death. It suppresses public discussion about HIV/AIDS, and deters people from finding out whether they are infected. It can cause people - whether a mother breastfeeding her child or a sexual partner reluctant to disclose their HIV status - to risk transmitting HIV/AIDS rather than attract suspicion that they might be infected.

But the walls of stigma and silence are weakening. There is evidence of progress on every continent. Leaders are speaking out at the highest level. The rights of people living with HIV/AIDS are being defending through the courts.

Standards are being set in the workplace. Schools, the media and youth education programmes are helping to created a generation better equipped to live in the world of HIV/AIDS. And last year, at a special session of the General Assembly, all the Member States of the United Nations unanimously adopted a Assemble, all the Member States of the United Nations unanimously adopted a Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS which sent a clear message around the world.

They pledged to enact or enforce legislation outlawing discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and members of vunerable groups. But whatever laws and regulations are adopted, the most powerful weapons against stigma and silence are the voices of the world's people speaking up about HIV/AIDS. By adopting the slogan "Live and Let Live", this year's World HIV/AIDS Campaign challenges us to ensure that all people, with or without HIV/AIDS, can realise their human rights and live in dignity.

On this World AIDS Day, let us resolve to replace stigma with support, fear with hope, silence with
solidarity. Let us act on the understanding that this work begins with each and every one of us.