NEW YORK— More than 30 heads of state and vice presidents converged on the United Nations alongside activists, celebrities and think-tank experts Wednesday (8 June) to train a spotlight on a worldwide epidemic: HIV/AIDS.
At the UNAIDS Summit, world leaders announced a bold international plan aimed at eliminating most new HIV infections among children, who inherit the condition from already infected mothers, by 2015. The leaders also agreed to commit more resources to educating individuals about the deadly disease.
“Countdown to Zero,” as the plan is called, will focus on 22 countries with the highest numbers of pregnant women living with HIV. The countries are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“We believe that by 2015 children everywhere can be born free of HIV and that their mothers can remain healthy,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe.
According to Sidibe, 1.8 million people die of AIDS every year in the developing world. He said 9 million people in the world await treatment, and, despite successes in HIV prevention and treatment, more people than ever before are living with the virus, 34 million according to the latest estimates. More than 25 million people worldwide have died from AIDS over the past 30 years. Sidibe says that the decline in international funding for AIDS may have contributed to some of those deaths.
“We cannot stop our investment now,” he said. “With an effective up-front investment we can make the down payment to alter the costs trajectory and end this epidemic.”
HIV advocates say an additional $6 billion will be needed every year by 2015 to help avert 12 million new infections and more than 7 million deaths by 2020.
