Annan: AIDS Crisis Accelerating

U.N. Chief Says Epidemic Accelerating On Every Continent

(AP)  Annan said halting the AIDS epidemic is a prerequisite for meeting all the other U.N. development goals — including cutting in half the number of people living in dire poverty, and ensuring an elementary school education for all children by 2015.

"That is why the fight against AIDS may be the great challenge of our age and our generation," Annan said. "Only if we meet this challenge can we succeed in our efforts to build a humane, healthy and equitable world. Let us ensure we are equal to the task."

Peter Piot, head of the U.N. campaign to combat AIDS, said the last four years have demonstrated "that this is an unprecedented global crisis."

"Unless and until we control this global epidemic, it will continue to expand and worsen," he said.

Piot said the global fight against AIDS is seeing its first signs of success in hardest-hit Africa. But he said the $8 billion being spent this year to combat the disease must be doubled to between $14 billion and $16 billion annually.

General Assembly President Jean Ping called on delegates at the meeting — including 36 ministers — to make recommendations to a summit of world leaders in September that Annan has called to focus on the U.N. development goals.

Piot said he expects the leaders to tackle the $7 billion to $8 billion shortfall in fighting AIDS.

"That's where the big financial commitments will be made," he said.

On a positive note, Piot cited declines in the number of new HIV infections among young people in the capitals of Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia and Uganda, where people are more educated and prevention programs have started.

"That means that something is moving, that we start seeing success — the first signs of success in Africa," he said.

The challenge now, he said, is to expand prevention and treatment programs and services to rural areas and to all developing countries.

At Thursday's meeting, Piot said, there will also be an update on research into AIDS vaccines and microbicides, which are gels or creams that women could use to kill the HIV virus during sexual intercourse.

Developing a microbicide would be "a breakthrough because then for the first time women would have a method that's under their control" since condoms are controlled by men, he said.

"For microbicides, I think it's realistic to expect there will be something within the next four or five years," Piot said. "Vaccines — we don't know."