Overcoming the Challenges Facing Children Is Key to Human Progress. Marking the New Year by calling attention to the immediate needs of children in developing countries, UNICEF today named the top five concerns for children in 2004: child survival, the effects of HIV/AIDS, children caught in war, exploitation, and insu
A United Nations human rights expert today hailed Mozambique s efforts to protect the health of its citizens but cautioned that policies must be translated into action in the southern African nation, where 13 per cent of all adults have HIV. While praising Maputo s drive to raise living standards, Paul Hunt, the Specia
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - December 22, 2003
The 12 traditional chiefs of the Burkina Faso s Sahel region expressed their commitment bringing HIV/AIDS awareness to the people at an unprecedented gathering in the north-east provincial capital of Dori earlier this month. The Emir of Liptako, their paramount chief, led hundreds people in dance and cheers as he forma
18 December 2003 | GENEVA -- Health care systems must be strengthened through focused action in countries if global health goals agreed by the international community are to be met, according to a new report published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The health care services of most developing countries require
UNAIDS, WHO, OHCHR Press Release - December 10, 2003
Geneva - Today, on Human Rights Day, three UN agencies are launching a colourful, interactive cartoon booklet called HIV/AIDS Stand Up for Human Rights . The cartoon is part of a global campaign to tackle HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and other human rights violations. The cartoon, launched by the United N
UNAIDS, World Bank Press Release - December 9, 2003
Washington, 9 December 2003 - A global competition to find innovative new ways to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic has awarded $460,000 to teams of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from Brazil , Ethiopia , Kenya and Romania at a ceremony last week at the Washingto
KATHMANDU Nepal , 6 December 2003 - A pledge for action to protect children and young people from the ravages of the HIV and AIDS epidemic has been made by religious and faith based groups from 8 South Asian countries. More than a 140 figures from religious communities, faith based groups and young people have been att
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - December 3, 2003
Angola s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said the national strategy against poverty has to include measures to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. The challenges are two sides of the same coin, he told the first meeting of the National HIV/AIDS Commission, held last week at the National Assembly in Luanda. Success in fighti
VIENNA, 1 December (UN Information Service) -- Following is the message of Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the occasion of World AIDS Day, observed annually on 1 December. 10 people are infected with HIV every minute of every day, 95 per cent of them in devel
Francistown, Botswana , 1 December 2003 - Despite having the highest adult HIV prevalence worldwide at close to 40%, Botswana has managed to mount an effective response to AIDS over the past few years. Botswana s growing AIDS movement is the result of President Mogae s leadership and openness on AIDS coupled with the a
-- Comprehensive Approach to HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention -- New AIDS Medicine and Diagnostics Service -- Simple Treatment Regimens Published -- Training Tens of Thousands of People to Support AIDS Treatment and Prevention 1 December 2003 | GENEVA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and
ROME - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes the launch on World AIDS Day (1 December) of a campaign by the World Health Organization to provide anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to three million people by 2005, and stresses that drugs can only be effective if combined with good nutrition. The WHO campa
-- UNICEF report calls for immediate help for families supporting massive and growing orphan population JOHANNESBURG/GENEVA, 26 November 2003 - The staggering number of African children already orphaned due to AIDS is only the beginning of a crisis of gargantuan proportions, and the worst is yet to come, warned a UNICE
-- 46664 - The Concert in Association With MTV s Staying Alive Offered Rights Free to All TV & Radio Broadcasters to Potential Audience of Two Billion -- MTV Announces Results of Staying Alive 2003 Global Sexual Behaviour Study Surveying Youth in 29 Countries -- Nelson Mandela, Beyonce, 50 Cent, Bono, Anastacia, Go
-- Rapid Increases in Newer HIV Epidemics in Asia and Eastern Europe: Despite Improvements, Current Prevention and Care Efforts are Inadequate London, 25 November 2003 - The global AIDS epidemic shows no signs of abating. Five million people became infected with HIV worldwide and 3 million died this year alone - the hi
NEW YORK/ GENEVA, 24 November 2003 - UNICEF today formally appointed Kami, the HIV-positive Muppet who appears regularly on the South African co-production of Sesame Street called Takalani Sesame, as a global Champion for Children. Kami s first appearance with UNICEF under this new collaboration will be in Geneva on 26
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - November 21, 2003
Local leaders in Mali , meeting at a recent workshop in Bamako, have agreed to set up committees to intensify the campaign against HIV/AIDS, improve networking among communities and promote prevention activities. Participants included members of the Alliance of Mayors and Local Elected Officials against HIV/AIDS, gove
Mr President, Please allow me extend my thanks to you and your colleagues here at the World Bank for inviting me to deliver this lecture. This is a particular honour for me because of the enormous leadership you have personally provided in the fight against AIDS. Today, of course, AIDS is an important part of the globa
WASHINGTON, D.C, November 13, 2003 - The World Bank approved today US $16.6 million in grant financing to support HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services for at risk groups along the heavily-traveled Abidjan-Lagos corridor in western sub-Saharan Africa. The HIV/AIDS Abidjan-Lagos Transport Corridor project is
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - November 13, 2003
The Global Fund for the Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is giving US$26 million to ramp up efforts against HIV/AIDS and malaria in Burkina Faso , one of the west African countries most seriously affected by HIV/AIDS. The UNDP Burkina Faso office will be the channel for the money, beginning with $14 millio
UNAIDS, World Economic Forum, Centre for Business and Government Press Release - November 5, 2003
Beijing, China, 5 November 2003 - Harvard University, the World Economic Forum and UNAIDS hosted today the first ever meeting of business, government and civil society in China discussing the potential role of partnerships to combat HIV/AIDS in China. Calling on all stakeholders to increase their efforts, the meeting h
Johannes Rau, the Federal President of Germany , and leading popstar Herbert Gronemeyer, have joined forces to support an unprecedented German campaign designed to raise awareness of Africa s humanitarian crisis. The so-called Altogether for Africa campaign will highlight the plight of Africa, where poverty and illnes
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - October 29, 2003
The Olympus Corporation is donating US$33,000 for HIV/AIDS education in Africa at the opening of an exhibition of images from its landmark A Day in the Life of Africa collection at the United Nations in New York today. The funds, donated on behalf of the Japanese people, are from ticket sales at a recent exhibition of
Kampala, Uganda , 26 October 2003 - Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS must be eradicated as a critical component of expanding access to treatment and care, according to UNAIDS and WHO. It is a serious injustice to see that only 1 percent of the 4.1 million people in sub- Saharan Africa who n
MTV Networks International - Staying Alive - October 21, 2003
-- Artists participating include 50 Cent, Anastasia, Beyoncé, Bono, David Bowie, Ms Dynamite, Eurythmics, Paul McCartney, Pink, Queen, Shakira, Britney Spears, Sting & more -- Concert special to air on MTV globally on World AIDS Day & offered rights free at no cost to all TV & radio broadcasters London UK,
-- Major international partners agree to strategic framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS GENEVA, 21 October 2003 - A consensus agreement on how to significantly scale up the global response to the millions of children orphaned and made vulnerable by AID
Geneva/Rome, 16 October 2003 - On World Food Day, when attention is drawn to the more than 800 million hungry people across the globe, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) announced that the World Food Programme (WFP) has joined UNAIDS as a Cosponsor. Together with the eight existing Cosponsors, WF
Panama , October 14, 2003-- Four of the six countries with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in Latin America are in Central America, and the epidemic threatens to run out of control unless prevention efforts are intensified, the World Bank cautioned today. In report on the subject released today at the Third Centr
LONDON, 8 October 2003-Some 1.2 billion people-one person in five-are between ages 10 and 19, the largest number of adolescents in history. Half of them are poor; one in four live in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day. Meeting adolescents reproductive health needs is an urgent priority in the global fight against p
NEW YORK, 29 September 2003 - UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy praised Canada s push to quickly enact legislation allowing Canadian generic medicine companies to export cheaper versions of patented medicines to poor countries hard hit by the AIDS pandemic. If the law passes, Canada would become the first G7 nati
WASHINGTON, September 16, 2003 - Though HIV/AIDS is growing fast in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region, concerted action now to keep the epidemic from spreading to the general population could prevent huge socioeconomic costs later, according to Averting AIDS Crises in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the World
Region shows fastest growing epidemic in the world – World Bank report calls for immediate action September 16, 2003 - Over 1.2 million people are estimated to be living with HIV and AIDS in Eastern and Central Europe (ECA), and the numbers are growing fast. Over the course of the year 2002 alone, a quarter of a millio
United Nations Foundation Press Release - Wednesday, September 3, 2003
Asia-Pacific leaders must take urgent action to avoid an AIDS epidemic similar to that in Africa, the U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia, Nafis Sadik, said yesterday before members of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). HIV/AIDS is the most serious challenge to development tha
1 September 2003 -- Johannesburg, South Africa : HIV/AIDS is a catastrophe and people affected need urgent access to treatment, said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in his speech to health ministers from the WHO African Region (AFRO). Today, Dr Lee made his first address to the
Speech by the UN Special Envoy on HIV/Aids in Africa at the conference of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (immediately preceding the national South African AIDS Conference). I ve been in this Envoy role for just over two years. The issues related to the pandemic ebb and flow, but remain m
Geneva, 30 June 2003 - Agricultural institutions urgently need to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which continues to ravage many rural areas in developing countries, jeopardizing the human right to food of millions of people, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Joint United Nations Pro
WASHINGTON, June 27, 2003 -- The World Bank yesterday approved a US$100 million loan to assist Brazil s STD & AIDS control program in its efforts to enhance its ability to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and reduce its impact. The AIDS & STD Control III Project is the third STD/AIDS control project that the World
WASHINGTON, June 27, 2003 - The World Bank yesterday approved a $20 million loan aimed at reducing HIV infections and providing treatment and care for people infected with HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago . The HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project supports the Governme
26 June 2003 -- An updated edition of Sources and Prices of Selected Medicines and Diagnostics for People living with HIV/AIDS will be released today. The report provides market information on 74 reviewed products for the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS from 61 manufacturers. The report gives purchasers of AIDS me
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has launched a major campaign in eastern and southern Africa to try to help the local media better understand and report AIDS-related stories. UNESCO says the campaign is one of its most ambitious projects, aimed at addressing the problem of
Yaoundé, 19 June 2003 - The increased AIDS awareness amongst Cameroonians is strong evidence that Cameroon s political commitment to combat the disease is yielding positive results, even though greater challenges still lie ahead to curb the epidemic, according to Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Na
June 17, 2003-In the Caribbean today over a quarter of a million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. These children, whose future has already been compromised, face further challenges ahead as they grow up in what has become the region with the highest HIV/AIDS transmission rate behind sub-Saharan Africa. The toll
The head of the United Nations Children s Fund today called on African leaders to embrace child-centred standards as the primary indicator of progress across their continent. We all agree that in order to sustain human progress, a government must invest in its children, Executive Director Carol Bellamy told leaders att
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2003-The World Bank today approved an IDA grant of US$5.5 million equivalent for the Moldova AIDS Control Project, which will help improve Moldova s health conditions by reducing mortality, morbidity and transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The proposed AIDS Contr
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2003 – Recognizing that Pakistan has an opportunity to prevent a widespread HIV/AIDS epidemic, the World Bank today announced the approval of a US$37.1 million credit, of which US$ 9.28 is a grant to the Government of Pakistan. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Project will prevent HIV/AIDS from becoming esta
Stephen Lewis - Washington, DC Speech by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, to the Global Health Council s Annual Conference, Washington, Wednesday, May 28, 2003 I sometimes think that the continent I love, and the continent to which my UN role is devoted - Africa - is under some kind of other-worl
A United Nations envoy today said he has a greater degree of hope and optimism about Kenya s ability to turn around the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic given the startlingly changed atmosphere created by the new government s political commitment to break the scourge s grip on the country. It is hard to describe the
United Nations Children's Fund (New York) - April 8, 2003
With global attention zeroed in on Iraq , UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy traveled to Southern Africa this week to focus on a humanitarian crisis reshaping the lives of millions of children and women far beyond the lenses of most cameras. Lesotho ,
United Nations Children's Fund (New York) - April 8, 2003
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Only a few weeks ago, I was in a district called Makete in the southern highlands of Tanzania . What is special about this district is that is one of the first and one of the hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Tanzania. This is because of its long history of labour migratio
As southern Africa continues to battle a lethal mix of drought-induced food shortages and a massive AIDS epidemic, the head of the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) travelled to the region to focus global attention on a humanitarian crisis reshaping the lives of millions of children and women. This deadly combina
Contrary to recent suggestions that a majority of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa are due to unsafe medical practices, an expert group convened by the United Nations reaffirmed today that unsafe sex remains the primary mode of transmission in the region. Following a review of the evidence, experts convened in Gene
UNICEF today is kicking off a two-day workshop to create awareness on how to stop sexual abuse of children and women in Ethiopia in a humanitarian crisis and prevent their increased risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS as a result of such exploitation. Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation are risks that must be factored in whe
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - March 11, 2003
Leaders in Senegal - from government and business to the arts and media - are embarking on initiatives against HIV/AIDS to reinforce the country s success in limiting the spread of the deadly disease. These activities began to take shape at a workshop earlier this year in which eight ministers learned the need for emo
Women must play a central role in development. When they do so, the benefits are apparent immediately: families are healthier and better fed; savings and incomes rise; a supportive environment is created. Take away women s ability to fulfil these roles and entire societies fall apart. Yet for the first time at the end
In response to escalating HIV rates in Sierra Leone , the United Nations today launched a groundbreaking initiative to raise awareness among its peacekeepers and halt the spread of the epidemic in the country. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) is committed to working with our partners to s
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the world s richest countries today to provide the resources for a strategy of radical approaches on multiple fronts in the battle against hunger in Africa and the devastating impact of the AIDS pandemic on food production there. We cannot find viable solutions to t
Secretary-General Kofi Annan is set to address ministers from the Group of 8 most industrialized countries on the link between food security, HIV/AIDS and governance during a meeting Wednesday at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Mr. Annan s presentation at the meeting on food security of the G-8 Contact Group i
Creative artists in Africa can help the United Nations in its efforts to achieve such goals as reducing poverty and hunger set by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message to the continent s premier film festival. By informing and educating your audiences, you
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - February 27, 2003
From the dire straits of children who have lost both parents to AIDS to the challenge of promoting prevention among truck drivers constantly on the move, John Singleton, award-winning US film producer, director and screenwriter, is learning all about HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso . He is in the capital, Ouagadougou, at the
Zambia faces another extremely challenging year, as the combined impact of food shortages and a high rate of HIV/AIDS continues to devastate communities despite international support, the United Nations said today. The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 50,000 tons of UN-provided food, and around 27,000 to
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on African leaders, from the national level on down to the communities, to ensure that men assume their full responsibilities in the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS. On the question of AIDS, as I made clear, the leaders have responsibility. Obviously, each
Calling on the world to help Africa battle AIDS, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced a new a high-level commission to propose measures to stem the tide of disease and deal with the profound structural impact it has on the ability to tackle development challenges. Addressing the Africa-
United Nations Development Programme (New York) - February 14, 2003
In the Middle East and North Africa, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is collaborating with regional governments in an initiative to break the silence surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. All Arab countries have reported increases in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates over the past two years: UNAIDS
It would be an unspeakable humanitarian tragedy if the rumour of war, or an actual war, in Iraq subverts the struggle against AIDS in Africa, a United Nations envoy warned today. It would be the ultimate triumph of conflict over the human imperative, Secretary-General Kofi Annan s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa,
Geneva, 22 January 2003 - While sex workers have been one of the groups most affected by HIV, they have been mobilized and empowered to become leading advocates and educators on HIV prevention and care, according to Aurorita Mendoza, Prevention and Vulnerability Adviser at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
United Nations (New York) - Last month, I spent two weeks touring four countries in Southern Africa: Lesotho , Zimbabwe , Malawi and Zambia . The primary purpose was to view the link between hunger and AIDS. I want to look back at that visit, because little will have ch
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.