JAKARTA, Dec 1 (AFP) - Countries around the world must make an exceptional response to the global AIDS epidemic if they wish to stem the crisis, the executive director of UNAIDS Peter Piot warned Thursday.
"On this 18th World AIDS Day, the world faces a choice in the global response to AIDS," Piot said in a message released in the Indonesian capital to mark World AIDS day.
"We can either continue to accept that global efforts will fail to keep pace with ever increasing numbers of HIV infections and AIDS related deaths, including more and more women and girls," he said.
"Or we can recognise the exceptional global threat posed by AIDS and embrace an equally exceptional response."
The number of people living with HIV in 2005 was at 40.3 million, the highest level ever, he said, as he urged countries to invest in HIV prevention as well as treatment and care.
"By making these investments, each and every country can reverse the spread of AIDS... With a crisis as unprecedented as AIDS, we cannot afford to neglect any vital front," said Piot, who is on a four-day visit here.
Piot said earlier this week he was spending World AIDS day in Indonesia to highlight the growing epidemic in Asia, where a decade ago, one in 10 of every new infection came from. Now one in five infections come from the region.
The director also warned that Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, was "the new frontline" in fighting the global AIDS battle and needed to drastically improve its response.
Piot also urged Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to personally lead the country's fight and expressed disappointment that the president was skipping an AIDS Day ceremony to inaugurate a power plant.
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