February 3, 2003
A high-level conference of South Asia's leaders, policy makers and others began here today to accelerate the momentum against HIV/AIDS, portraying an alarming present and a frightful future of the infection in the region.
In 2001, South Asia had over 4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, an increase from 2 million in 1994, and the infection rate virtually galloping. Silence and dilemma surrounding the infection; and denial and refusal are as much to be blamed for the spread of the virus as poverty, illiteracy, lack of education, gender inequality and lack of education.
Inaugurating the conference this morning, Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that the rapid pace at which the fire of HIV/AIDS was engulfing our societies was indeed alarming and that needed to be checked in time.
"We, the member of the South Asian Region have committed ourselves along with the global community to ensure that the spread of HIV is halted and reversed by 2015," he said.
"This is, very much our shared problem and we need to work together to find joint solutions."
"It is high time that we protect our young people, particularly girls with an easy access to information and appliances they wish to use and protect themselves from HIV," Prime Minister Chand said.
Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the UNICEF, said for a disaster is looming over the people of this region - and unless there is a quantum shift in our efforts to confront HIV/AIDS, the scale of that disaster will be truly staggering.
The ingredients for an HIV/AIDS-driven catastrophe, which range from poverty, illiteracy, gender inequities, trafficking and sexual exploitation of girls, high intravenous drug use, unsafe sex - and the lingering sense of denial that helps spread the disease by pretending it is not really in our amidst, are nonetheless present in South Asia, she said.
"This is the reality of South Asia: the tipping point has been reached, and the window of opportunity to act is closing rapidly." Yet, she said, there are increasing signs that governments have begun to grasp the nettle.
She said only education could empower young people with the knowledge that they need to protect themselves and their communities.
She cited six important challenges before the conference - leaders must break the silence that denies the existence of HIV/AIDS; ensure that every child, with special efforts on girls, goes to school; young people's right to information and services for HIV prevention; special needs of young people involved in sex work or use of intravenous drugs; to put an end to all forms of gender-discrimination; and mobilise all sectors of society in a stepped-up drive against HIV/AIDS - if the spread of the virus is stopped before South Asia's window of opportunity slams shut.
Dr. Nafis Sadek, special envoy of the UN Secretary General for HIV/AIDS in South Asia, said South Asia must be prepared to take risk as stakes are very high. But failure means a devastating outbreak, and the second outbreak could destroy the prospect of development in South Asia.
SAARC Secretary General QAMA Rahim said although the prevalence rate is still low in the region, it is known to have one of the most rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemics globally.
South Asia's HIV/AIDS situation is further aggravated by very high prevalence of tuberculosis in the region, he said. South Asia accounts for 38 per cent of the global TB burden, and it is estimated that 40 to 50 per cent of the adult population in South Asia is infected with TB bacillus. The epidemic of both TB and HIV is further complicated by yet another debilitating disease, that is poverty, he said.
Executive Director of UNAIDS Dr. Peter Piot said although HIV is still confined to the most vulnerable group of the population, but researches have shown that region is a risk of speaking into the general populace. "Until a medicine is found, education is the only vaccine available in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said.
On behalf of the young people of South Asia, Ms. Deluckshi Navaratnam asked the leaders, politicians and the decision-makers to keep their promises, saying the young people need more and correct information and urgent access to services and to stop social stigmatization and discrimination.
The conference is participated by about 170 representatives from the seven SAARC countries plus Afghanistan; SAARC regional organisation, bilateral agencies, NGOs, UNICEF and other UN agencies, members of the civil society and media.
In the beginning of the opening of the conference, a five-minute documentary 'Nepal - Unheard Voices' was shown. The documentary is about a family affected by HIV/AIDS, where the children and their old grandmother are left to fend for themselves when both the parents die of HIV/AIDS.
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