Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: July 2002

Abstract

In the past two years the sense of common purpose in the worldwide struggle against HIV/AIDS has intensified. More than at any other time in the short history of the epidemic the need to translate local and national examples of success into a global movement has become manifest. The political momentum to tackle AIDS has grown. Public opinion in many countries has been mobilized by the media nongovernmental organizations activists doctors economists and people living with HIV/AIDS. Communities and nations are progressively taking the lead in responding to the epidemic with increased political commitment resources and institutional initiatives. But this new political resolve is not universal. An unacceptable number of governments and civil society institutions are still in a state of denial about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and are failing to act to prevent its further spread or alleviate its impact. By failing to act governments and civil society are turning their backs on the possibility of success against AIDS. Where the moment of action has been seized there is mounting evidence of inroads being made against the epidemic. Alongside the familiar achievements of Senegal Thailand and Uganda there are new successes on every continent. Despite emerging from genocide and conflict Cambodia responded to the threat of HIV in the mid-1990s and has achieved marked declines in both the levels of HIV and the high-risk behaviours associated with its transmission. The infection rate among pregnant women in Cambodia declined by almost a third between 1997 and 2000. The Philippines has acted early to forestall the epidemic keeping HIV rates low with strong prevention efforts and the mobilization of community and business organizations. (excerpt)

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