Alleviating poverty and lifting the debt burden in Africa is currently holding the focus of world leaders. But it is HIV and AIDS and the severe burden it puts on families that is the leading development concern facing the continent.

Highlights include new policies on HIV prevention, new efforts for greater coordination among international organizations, and recognition as leader in UN reform through its work and budget planning

Kobe, 4 July 2005 – Six months after the Asian tsunami, opportunities for HIV prevention in hard-hit areas are better than ever.

Kobe, Japan, 3 July 2005 – The response to AIDS in Asia will be in jeopardy unless everyone works more closely together to reverse the epidemic, according to a symposium held at Asia’s leading AIDS conference today attended by representatives from donor governments, civil society, and the United Nations.

As commercial sex and unsafe injecting drug use are the biggest drivers of HIV in most Asian countries, supportive government policies that address these behaviours are urgently needed to slow the spread of AIDS, according to a series of three reports released today by the Monitoring AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network

In response to the urgent need for action to reduce the growing numbers of new HIV infections, the board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), this week unanimously approved a new policy approach to intensify HIV prevention efforts.

The governing board for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has unanimously agreed to put into practice recommendations on how the UN system and other multilateral institutions can work better together to strengthen the AIDS response in developing countries.

The number of people receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS in developing countries is increasing significantly – more than doubling from 400 000 in December 2003 to approximately one million in June 2005 – according to a new report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). However, access to HIV treatment continues to fall short of the growing need, and overall progress is unlikely to be fast enough to reach the target set by WHO and UNAIDS of treating three million people by the end of 2005.

Almost US$22 billion will be needed in 2008 to reverse spread of AIDS in the developing world, according to latest estimates.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is pleased to announce the appointment of the speaker of the Fijian House of Representatives Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as UNAIDS Special Representative for the Pacific.