Commemoration of World AIDS Day 2008
Opening Remarks by
Ursula Schäfer-Preuss
Vice President, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development
Asian Development Bank
28 November 2008
ADB Headquarters, Mandaluyong City
Introduction
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome all of you to join us in ADB's commemoration of the World AIDS Day. In the late 1980s, a global group of health ministers met to agree that a joint, global effort was needed to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. The 1st World AIDS Day was held in December 1988, and since then, it has been an important annual event. It is based on the belief that health in general, and AIDS in particular, remains to be one of the most significant humanitarian and development challenges that we face today.
This year's theme is "Take the Lead" - and I believe it is very appropriate - all of us, from individuals to development agencies, need to lead in the response to AIDS. Building on the 2006 theme of accountability, leadership highlights the discrepancy between the commitments that have been made to halt the spread of AIDS, and actions are urgently neededfor achieving them.
For ADB, this is the 5th commemoration, and this morning, I would like to highlight our progress, remaining challenges, and goals for the future to fight against this epidemic. But before I continue, I would like to acknowledge our RSDD's AIDS Team - led by our Practice Leader (Health), Mr Jacques Jeugmans - for preparing for this event. Furthermore, I would like to extend my special thanks to the Governments of Sweden and Australia for their support to ADB's Cooperation Fund for HIV/AIDS.
HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific Region
Ladies and gentlemen, for our region, there has been a number of encouraging news. For example, the epidemics in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand all show declines in HIV prevalence, with national HIV prevalence in Cambodia falling from 2% in 1998 to an estimated 0.9% in 2006.
Yet, despite the progress, HIV/AIDS remains to be a significant challenge for the region. The latest global epidemic update, released by UNAIDS during the XVII International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City in August of this year, indicates that: some 380,000 people have been newly infected in 2007, with a total of 5 million people now living with the virus. The UNAIDS estimates that 380,000 people died from AIDS in 2007. The Commission on AIDS in Asia released its report earlier this year, highlighting the characteristics of the epidemics in our region which are much driven by: (i) unprotected paid sex; (ii) sharing of contaminated needles and syringes among injecting drug users; and (iii) unprotected sex between men. The Commission's Report stresses the need for responses that focus on those groups that are most-at-risk of getting infected with HIV and likely to transmit the virus to others.
Although there are a number of important facts and policy actions which all of us need to understand, there is one important fact that we should all remember; that is, HIV/AIDS is preventable. As I have stressed during last year's World AIDS Day, it is in our best socio-economic interest to invest additional resources to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The country ownership is important, and development partners need to work together to ensure that the necessary resources are available.
ADB's Actions and Partnerships
ADB has been active in developing a framework to address this issue, based on our Strategy 2020. And more importantly, we have recently issued the Health Operations Plan. Based on this Plan, we continue to be committed to assisting the Governments of our developing member countries to effectively deploy their financial and human resources, and to strengthen partnerships with non-governmental and community organizations.
The "Plan" reaffirms our commitment to join forces to achieve universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Among various components, one important issue addressed in the Health Operations Plan is on mitigating the spread of HIV/AIDS through better designed infrastructure projects. We recognize that previously isolated populations are facing new risks and vulnerabilities associated with increased mobility. ADB is an active partner of the Joint Initiative for mitigating HIV/AIDS in the Infrastructure Sectors. Just recently on 24-26 November in Bangkok, ADB has organized, in collaboration with the U.N. Regional Task Force on Mobility, the 2nd Workshop on HIV Prevention and the Infrastructure Sector in the Greater Mekong Subregion in Bangkok. ADB also took this opportunity to launch a new regional technical assistance project for this region funded by the Government of Australia.
Another important pillar in our fight against HIV/AIDS is through partnerships. We need partnerships to reinvigorate our knowledge, financing, and commitment. Today we are particularly happy to be here, together with our partners, UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO, to launch the regional HIV/AIDS data hub. This joint project, lead by UNICEF in Bangkok, developed in Asia and the Pacific, for Asia and the Pacific, is a useful tool for the countries for fighting the epidemic in this region. This data hub initiative is important to help us understand the AIDS epidemics in Asia-Pacific, which can greatly facilitate decision making by national leaders. A data hub can allow us to more easily monitor interventions for the right groups at the right places, given the concentrated nature of HIV and AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region.
Conclusions
Ladies and gentlemen: I would like to conclude by reminding all of us again all of us here need to take the leadership in fighting against the spread of this deadly but preventable epidemic. I believe we will win the battle if we fight together. For ADB, this will remain to be one of the most important development challenges. Thank you for being here, and thank you for joining us.
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