Audio files
By now, at least 8 000 people die of AIDS every day around the world. And many of them can be kept alive and healthy by having very simple treatment regimens. So clearly this is a global public health crisis. We issued the simplified treatment guidelines today. Clearly in the resource poor countries it will be very difficult to follow very complex procedures and regimens, which is currently practised in the developed world. So that following the simplified treatment regimens, I believe that many people will benefit. We need the governments to be committed to this, we need NGOs, we need multilateral UN system agencies as well as bilateral donors, but above all we need people who are living with HIV/AIDS to be committed to this.
Statement by LEE Jong-wook, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
HIV/AIDS is the greatest disease recorded in human history. We have made a good start in prevention, particularly in some countries. But in treatment we have hardly started and we must rapidly accelerate effective treatment of HIV and people all over the world. The 3x5 campaign is the kick-start to that effort, it is the engine that will drive us forward and expand access to treatment very rapidly. The world desperately needs this and it’s everybody’s business. The 3x5 campaign - getting three million people on antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005 is the critical element of making progress against HIV/AIDS. WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund are working hand in hand and will work hand in hand to achieve this goal. The Global Fund will inevitably be the major source of financing to allow 3x5 to happen and we need very large investments, particularly in the poorest countries in Africa.
Statement by Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM)
Access to treatment to people in the developing world is clearly now a global emergency, with only 75 000 Africans treated with HIV out of the 4 million who need it. That’s really not acceptable and we have no chance of halting this epidemic if we’re not going to make sure that everybody who needs it has access to treatment. Because it will introduce hope in the community, it will make sure that people can come forward with their status and also, of course, it will save lives and whole economies. The task ahead is very clear. One, is to make sure that children, adolescents that they remain HIV-free. In other words, be passionate about prevention. Two, is to make sure that those who are infected already, that they have a better life, a longer life and that is by providing treatment, anti-retroviral treatment and to make sure that they are not discriminated. And the third is, to make sure that we support the millions and millions of orphans who are left behind because of AIDS.
Statement by Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS
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