UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

©UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks at the special event to commemorate World AIDS Day, at the St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City, United States.

1 December 2006 – Calling the struggle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic “the greatest challenge of our generation,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on international leaders to make sure they deliver on all the promises that their governments have made.

Attending an inter-faith event at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York on the eve of World AIDS Day, Mr. Annan said the international community has finally begun to take the fight seriously, devoting greater financial resources and giving more and more people access to antiretroviral treatment.

Yet the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, estimated recently that 39.5 million people around the world live with HIV and another 4.3 million will be infected this year, with nearly two out of every three new infections occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Significant increases in rates of infection have also been reported in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

At least 25 million have now died from AIDS-related diseases in the 25 years since the first case was reported, and this year alone almost 3 million people will die. The pandemic is the leading cause of death among both men and women aged between 15 and 59.

“Because the response has started to gain real momentum, the stakes are higher now than ever,” Mr. Annan said. “We cannot risk letting the advances that have been achieved unravel; we must not jeopardize the heroic efforts of so many,” adding that “leaders must hold themselves accountable – and be held accountable by all of us.”

He urged the leaders to strengthen protections for all vulnerable groups, whether people living with HIV, young people, sex workers, injecting drug users or men who have sex with men.