AEGiS-Bangkok Post: Young people 'key to Aids war'

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Young people 'key to Aids war'

Bangkok Post - February 15, 2006
Apinya Wipatayotin

Pattaya - Failure to get the message across to young people about the dangers of Aids could derail the global effort to fight the disease, the United Nations agency on Aids said yesterday. UNAids began its three-day international meeting yesterday in Pattaya to find the best methods for countries to reach the goal of universal access to HIV/Aids prevention and treatment by 2010.

The agency received a boost from G8 members and other countries during the UN World Summit last year after money was pledged to tackle the disease. The eight richest countries have declared they will donate more than US billion (about two trillion baht) to minimise the problem of HIV/Aids infections globally.

But Michel Sidibe, UNAids director of the Country and Regional Support Department, said raising awareness among young people was vital for the campaign.

"We will make sure that the universal access process makes a difference to help countries overcome obstacles to scaling up. However, we will not be able to fight the HIV/Aids epidemic if we fail to communicate with the young generation on how to protect themselves from the disease," he told about 200 officials from 22 Asian and Pacific countries.

Mr Sidibe said the meeting would set out measures to speed up the process of universal access for treatment and support for people living with HIV/Aids, including how to manage the US billion in funds.

The UN official admitted many nations were experiencing difficulties in accessing cheap anti-retroviral drugs, one of the problems the meeting was trying to resolve.

Prasada Rao, director of UNAids Asia-Pacific region, reminded participants of the danger of HIV/Aids and said governments in the meeting should take serious measures to tackle the problem.

There were approximately 8.3 million people in Asia infected with the virus last year, including 1.1 million new infections.

Thailand had more than 17,000 new HIV/Aids infections last year. It plans to cut the number of new infections to 7,500 in 2008 and to less than 6,000 in 2010.

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