Prevent, Supply, and Fund Prevention is Key to Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Washington, D.C - June 25, 2001As the U.N. Special Session on HIV/AIDS begins, Population Action International (PAI) is urging the international community to place preventive efforts-and the resources to fund them-at the center of the fight against HIV/AIDS. The special session, taking place at UN headquarters in New York this week (June 25-27), seeks to outline ways to intensify international action to fight the AIDS pandemic and mobilize the necessary resources.
Education about the disease and ways to prevent it, and access to the necessary supplies-especially condoms-are key elements of the approach recommended by PAI. Preventive measures remain the most effective and affordable interventions for slowing the HIV pandemic.
"The AIDS pandemic is destroying families, devastating communities and crippling economies," says Amy Coen, President of PAI. "Preventing and slowing the spread of HIV is key to reversing its longer-term social and economic impacts. And when it comes to prevention, education and condoms, together, can save lives."
Maintaining a sufficient and consistent supply of male and female condoms is vital to global prevention efforts. Currently, international funding for condoms is falling-just when, and where, these critical supplies are needed most. Funding fell to just US$40 million annually in 1999 and 2000, down from a peak of US$68 million in 1996.
"Too many countries face serious shortfalls of supplies needed to prevent the spread of HIV," says Terri Bartlett, Vice President for Public Policy at PAI. "In sub-Saharan Africa, the typical man has less than five condoms to use each year. Action is needed now to make sure that condoms and other supplies are available to all who want and need them."
How to address this shortfall in condoms and other reproductive health supplies was the theme of an international meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey, in May. In a statement emerging from the meeting, which PAI helped organize, participants urged national and global action to ensure both the availability of and access to essential reproductive health supplies.
"Ten million of the 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS are young people aged 15 to 24," says Coen. "The health and well-being of each and every young person, everywhere, should be precious to us-they are the future. Unless we make the necessary investments now, we face losing an entire generation, along with all their hopes and dreams."
Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
