United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the adoption by United Nations Member States of ambitious new targets to combat HIV/ AIDS, that aim to rid the world of a disease that has claimed more than 30 million lives since the virus was first identified three decades ago.The “Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS” was adopted by the General Assembly yesterday at the end of the High-level Meeting on AIDS that brought together 3,000 participants, including 30 heads of state and government, to chart a path for the future of the AIDS response. Ban said he was encouraged that Member States agreed on clear and measurable targets, in particular for achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015. “This is an absolute imperative if we are to succeed in realizing our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths,” the Secretary-General said in a statement released by his spokesperson on Friday evening. He called on member countries to move quickly to honour their commitments and reach the life-saving goals they set, and to take all measures to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. Ban urged governments, networks of people living with HIV, civil society organizations, the private sector and international organizations to redouble their efforts, including by making available the necessary investment of between $22 billion and $24 billion by 2015. “With global solidarity, we can end this epidemic once and for all,” said the Secretary-General. The declaration contains clear, measurable targets, including to halve sexual transmission of HIV by 2015, to reduce HIV transmission among intravenous drug users by 50 percent by 2015, to ensure that by 2015 no child will be born with HIV, to increase universal access to antiretroviral therapy, to get 15 million people onto life-saving treatment by 2015, and to halve tuberculosis deaths in people living with HIV by 50 percent by 2015. BM
