Today we can tell the world that soon there will be more African children born with AIDS. There are several countries, including Gabon and Rwanda, where we already have generations born without AIDS. And I believe that this is a small indication of this victory, which of course has resulted in change on several levels. Today we can say that we have not only reduced the price of the drug. We produce one of the best drugs in the world, in South Africa, and no longer for $15,000 per year, but $80 per year per person.

23rd meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board

It troubles me greatly to say that caring societies are in recession. We are bombarded with news and reports of increasingly terrible acts perpetuated on women. In South Africa according the Medical Research Council of Cape Town University, one in four women report being abused by an intimate partner – and every six hours a woman is killed. In the UK according to the British Crime Survey, a reported 80,000 women suffer rape every year2. Research from a number of countries confirms what seems common sense: there is a strong relationship between intimate partner violence and HIV status.

UNAIDS Executive Director addresses closing of Stop TB Partners Forum

Pot-banging for gender equality and universal access: scaling up our engagement with men and boys

Let me say from the outset of my opening remarks that if our hope is to put AIDS into the history books—we must take bolder action. Most important is preventing new infections. As long as there are five people newly infected for every two people starting HIV treatment—we will not change the trajectory of the epidemic.

When we explore the causes of Africa’s under-economic development, it is common to mention slave trade, colonialism, difficulty in accessing sea trade or inefficient institutions. However, experts in health and economics increasingly agree that it is infectious diseases that play the largest role in Africa’s underdevelopment.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé speech to 24th meeting of UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board. 23 June 2009, Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva, Switzerland 24 June 2009

AIDS Response