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World Conference Focuses on Improving Lives for People with HIV/AIDSOctober 29, 2001 Improving the lives of those with HIV/AIDS is the central focus of the 10th Annual International Conference for People Living with HIV/AIDS, which began Saturday in Trinidad and Tobago. Participants at the conference are discussing vaccines, access to medication, patient rights, prevention and discrimination. Another topic is the need for governments to commit more money to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, even as they attempt to ward off terrorist or technological crises. Yolanda Simon, chair of the conference, questioned why "it's taking so long to experience mobilization for HIV in the same manner as that for terror-inspired anthrax." Peter Piot, director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, said governments need "political will" to fund prevention and treatment campaigns for the estimated 36 million people infected. "Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on the non-virus of the Y2K millennium," he said, referring to the campaign to update computers for the year 2000. Piot said HIV/AIDS should be made a major human rights issue. The UN's global fund for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases has only reached $1.5 billion -- far below the targeted $7 billion to $10 billion, Piot said. About 700 people are attending the five-day conference, including 600 people from around the world who are infected with the virus, and health workers and observers. This year's conference was planned in the Caribbean because the region has a large proportion of people infected with HIV, said Stuart Flavell of the Netherlands-based Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. In the Caribbean, about 500,000 people are living with the virus, according to the Caribbean Task Force on HIV/AIDS. An estimated 2 percent of people in the Caribbean, excluding Cuba, have HIV/AIDS -- the world's highest regional infection rate after sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.3 million are living with the virus. The conference continues through Wednesday. Associated Press 10.27.01; Tony Fraser  This article was provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update. |
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