Today, December 1, 2006, Kofi Annan passed the following message: "In the 25 years since the first case was reported, AIDS has changed the world. It has killed 25 million people, and infected 40 million more. It has become the world’s leading cause of death among both women and men aged 15 to 59. It has inflicted the single greatest reversal in the history of human development. In other words, it has become the greatest challenge of our generation."
In 2000, the World's leaders made a promise, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, to halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015. That has been followed by many other targets and commitments over the past six years, among which that of providing cheap treatment to people throughout the world. Many of those promises fell short of expectations. Big pharmaceutical companies still keep unacceptable rights over treatments which are not being made available at accessible prices.
Meanwhile, new reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that the epidemic continues to spread in every region of the world. By now over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, 2.9 million in 2006 alone. At this rate, the WHO predicts that in the next 25 years another 117 million people might die, making AIDS the third leading cause of death worldwide.
With “accountability” as the theme of this World AIDS Day on 1 December, campaigners across the globe are calling leaders to account not just for good intentions, but for action to make those promises a reality.
Meanwhile, apart from making treatments available worldwide, the only thing we can all do is to respect the people who have HIV or AIDS, to prevent the virus from spreading by USING CONDOMS and have safe se reports and test when required.
Meanwhile, new reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that the epidemic continues to spread in every region of the world. By now over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, 2.9 million in 2006 alone. At this rate, the WHO predicts that in the next 25 years another 117 million people might die, making AIDS the third leading cause of death worldwide.
With “accountability” as the theme of this World AIDS Day on 1 December, campaigners across the globe are calling leaders to account not just for good intentions, but for action to make those promises a reality.
Meanwhile, apart from making treatments available worldwide, the only thing we can all do is to respect the people who have HIV or AIDS, to prevent the virus from spreading by USING CONDOMS and have safe se reports and test when required.
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