The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN agency charged with coordinating United Nations efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, jointly appointed today action star Jackie Chan as one of its Goodwill Ambassadors.

Despite the low HIV prevalence in South Asia, the epidemic continues to spread unabated, particularly among high-risk groups. In an effort to accelerate and strengthen the response to AIDS in the region, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has taken a significant step forward by signing a memorandum of understanding with UNAIDS today.

Nordic funding to fight AIDS globally ranks among top 5 in donor spending

London/Geneva, 13 April 2004 – Players from the India and Pakistan cricket teams will wear the symbolic red ribbon as part of international cricket’s commitment to raise awareness about HIV in today’s third Test match, being held in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. As part of this ground-breaking initiative, the team captains will also be accompanied by an HIV-positive person for the coin toss before the match.

Discrimination against women, both legal and de facto, renders them disproportionately vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Women's subordination in the family and in public life is one of the root causes of the rapidly increasing rate of infection among women. Systematic discrimination based on gender also impairs women's ability to deal with the consequences of their own infection and/or infection in the family, in social, economic and personal terms.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic poses serious human rights challenges - for example, unequal access to HIV/AIDS-related treatments remains a global reality. If countries are seriously committed to protecting the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, then this inequality must be addressed. The problem is urgent. In poor countries, millions of people with HIV/AIDS need antiretroviral treatment immediately and very few of these are on antiretroviral treatment. Without accelerated prevention and treatment the AIDS epidemic will continue destroying communities, health care systems and economies, placing a shadow upon the future of entire countries.

The Pacific Island countries have a unique opportunity to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS before it is too late. “Although HIV prevalence levels remain low, we must not underestimate the size of the challenges confronting the Pacific Islands region,” said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, in a video statement for the opening of the UNAIDS workshop, “Accelerating Action Against HIV/AIDS in the Pacific”, being held in Fiji from 22-26 March 2004.

The rate of HIV infection in the Mekong Region is rising faster among women than men. “Lack of attention to women’s rights is fuelling the HIV epidemic,” said Dr Kathleen Cravero, Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), speaking at the Mekong Leaders’ Consultative Meeting on Women and AIDS on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Women in Lao PDR are at an unacceptably high risk of contracting HIV and AIDS, according to a UN expert.

Across the world, between one-fifth and half of all girls and young women report that their first sexual encounter was forced. Too many women are unable to refuse sex or insist on a condom because they lack social and economic power, according to the film “Women Are”, being premiered in Geneva today to mark International Women’s Day.