June 14, 2012
At a plenary session on HIV/AIDS at the UN General Assembly, Brazil's deputy permanent representative called for more comprehensive education on how to prevent HIV/AIDS.
"Comprehensive education on sexuality must be made available together with the expansion of access to essential preventive commodities, particularly male and female condoms," said Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop. She recommended that governments put in place "strategies that adequately focus on the needs of populations that are at higher risk of infection, in particular injecting drug users, sex workers, and men who have sex with men."
"Discrimination, limited access to health services, and lack of specific HIV-prevention policies contribute to making these key affected populations disproportionately vulnerable to the infection," Dunlop added.
Dunlop emphasized the importance of access to treatment, which she identified as one of the chief struggles in the battle against AIDS. "Price is still one of the main obstacles to [increasing] availability and accessibility of medicines for both institutions and individuals," she said.