UN Special Session to Tackle AIDS Pandemic Attracts 24 World Leaders

The UN Special Session on AIDS June 25-27 in New York will bring 180 countries together, including 24 world leaders, mostly from Africa. "It's indicative of the priority that African nations are attaching to the HIV/AIDS special session and to the combating of this pandemic," said Bangladesh's UN Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, current Security Council president. "I wish that some more high-level leaders from other parts of the world would come . . . particularly densely populated countries of Asia and Africa."

Five countries -- Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa -each have at least 2 million people living with AIDS or HIV. In five more countries -- Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- at least 20 percent of the adult population has HIV/AIDS, according to UN sources. Heads of state from six of the ten countries -- Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland -- will speak at the special session. Ministers will represent the other four countries.

Of the 24 world leaders attending, 18 are from Africa, four are from the Caribbean and Latin American, and two (Ireland and Portugal) are from Europe. Acting US Ambassador James Cunningham said the United States -- which has not chosen a leader for its UN delegation -- helped launch the idea for the special session. "We've been pushing to have the UN improve its effort on AIDS for quite some time now," he said.

The UN special session is aimed at galvanizing leaders around the world to take action and raise the $7 billion to $10 billion annually that Secretary-General Kofi Annan says is needed to halt the epidemic.

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