Culminating a historic three-day special session on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a comprehensive Declaration of Commitment containing a specific timetable for overcoming and a blueprint for a greatly accelerated response to the pandemic health threat, a press release said Thursday, cited by Iranian official news agency (IRNA).
The 16-page declaration, entitled "Global Crisis-Global Action," addresses a wide range of issues including leadership, prevention, care, support and HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Information Center said.
"The HIV/AIDS challenge cannot be met without new, additional and sustained resources," says the declaration. It calls for reaching, by 2005, the overall target of $7-$10 billion annual expenditure on the epidemic in low and middle-income countries and those experiencing or at risk of rapid expansion.
It also supports the establishment of a global HIV/AIDS and Health Fund "to finance an urgent and expanded response to the epidemic based on an integrated approach to prevention, care, support and treatment."
The UN General Assembly has pledged to ensure, by 2005, "that a wide range of prevention programs which take account of local circumstances, ethics and cultural values, is available in all countries, particularly the most affected countries.
"By 2005, at least 90 percent of all young men and women aged 15-24 should have access to education and services necessary to develop the life skills required to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection," the declaration said.
"With no cure for HIV/AIDS yet found, further research and development is crucial," it said, calling for AIDS programs for people destabilized by armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters.
"We recognize and express our appreciation to those who have led the effort to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to deal with its complex challenges," states the declaration, adding, "We look forward to strong leadership by governments, and concerted efforts with full and active participation of the United Nations the entire multilateral system, civil society, the business community and private sector."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a news conference earlier that the document was "a clear battle plan for the war against AIDS," which has infected another 36 million people and will likely infect many more.
"All in all, I feel more confident today than I did three days ago that we can defeat this deadly disease," Annan said.
He said the special session was unique in that it was not limited to official government delegates but also included AIDS activists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and representatives from the private sector.
"The only way we can ensure that we maintain the momentum and sustain it is to get that broad participation, at the local level, at the national level and for all of us to stick with it," he said.
"If we don't, I'm afraid we are going to fail. And it is a fight we cannot afford to lose." Annan said that during the debates, "some painful differences have been brought into the open, but that is the best place for them."
He noted that "a reasonably large number of women delegates" had taken part in the assembly special session, the first ever held on a public health issue.
"It has been said that "girl power" is Africa's own vaccine and that should be true for the whole world," he said – Albawaba.com
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