As per the United Nations Development Programme, HIV / AIDS epidemic has in two decade infected nearly seventy million people since it began. Some Forty two million are living with HIV and AIDS and over Twenty Five million have died. Without decisive action not only we will fail to achieve the Millennium Developement Goal of reversing the spread of HIV / AIDS, but worse the number of people infected is likely to double in less than a decade. International funding to confront the epidemic has began to grow, but it will take massive, comprehensive and sustained intervention in both high and low prevalence countries to turn the tide.

UN Secretary-General urges countries to follow the United States and lift travel restrictions for people living with HIV

 UNAIDS welcomes President Obama’s announcement of the final rule removing entry restrictions based on HIV status from US policy.  The removal of HIV-related travel restrictions in the US overturns a policy that had been in place since 1987. Such restrictions, strongly opposed by UNAIDS, are discriminatory and do not protect public health.

“I congratulate President Obama on announcing the removal of the travel restrictions for people living with HIV from entering the United States,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “I urge all other countries with such restrictions to take steps to remove them at the earliest.”

The United Nations Secretary-General has made the removal of stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV a personal issue. He called for the removal of travel restrictions for the first time in his address to the General Assembly during the High Level Meeting on AIDS in 2008. “That they should be discriminated against, including through restrictions on their ability to travel between countries, should fill us all with shame,” said Secretary-General Ban in a speech to the Global AIDS Conference in August last year.

At his request, several countries including his home country, the Republic of Korea, are in the last stages of removing travel restrictions. Other countries that are considering removal of travel restrictions include China and Ukraine. In 2008, the UNAIDS board strongly encouraged all countries to eliminate HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay and residence and ensure that people living with HIV are no longer excluded, detained or deported on the basis of HIV status.
“Placing travel restrictions on people living with HIV has no public health justification. It is also a violation of human rights,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We hope that other countries that still have travel restrictions will remove them at the earliest.”

Nearly 59 countries impose some form of travel restrictions on people living with HIV. The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights state that any restriction on liberty of movement or choice of residence based on suspected or real HIV status alone, including HIV screening of international travellers, is discriminatory. Travel restrictions do not have an economic justification either. People living with HIV can now lead long and productive working lives, a fact that modifies the economic argument underlying blanket restrictions; concern about migrants’ drain on health resources must be weighed with their potential contribution.

UNAIDS launches new report on global AIDS epidemic




 

29 July 2008

The report was launched at UN HQ in NY (from right) UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot; Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Kemal Derviš
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton 

Significant gains in preventing new HIV infections are being seen in a number of countries most affected by the AIDS epidemic. This is according to a new report released today by UNAIDS.

The report highlights specific examples of countries which are seeing changes in sexual behaviour followed by declines in the number of new HIV infections. Findings include increasing condom use among young people with multiple partners and encouraging signs that young people are waiting longer to have sexual intercourse in some of the most heavily affected countries.

However, the report also shows that despite the declines in new HIV infections the AIDS epidemic is far from over and that rates of new HIV infections are rising in many countries. AIDS also continues to be the leading cause of death in Africa.

2008 report on the global AIDS
epidemic

The report outlines that AIDS is a long-term issue requiring a response grounded in evidence and human rights and one that requires strong leadership and sustained financing.

The UNAIDS report clearly shows that stronger measures are needed to turn the epidemic around and that ‘knowing your local epidemic’ remains critical to an effective response.

The 2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic is the most comprehensive report on the response to AIDS. It includes data from 147 countries against 25 core targets set in the UN declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted in 2001, and the political declaration adopted at the 2006 High Level Meeting on AIDS. The information presented in the report enables readers to assess progress made since 2001 and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the AIDS response to date