On World AIDS Day, Stop AIDS Alliance calls upon the EU to take urgent action on HIV/AIDS
02 December 2005
On 1 December, Stop AIDS Alliance (a coalition of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Stop AIDS Now) and other international HIV/AIDS organisations presented a position paper to Members of the European Parliament, calling on the European Union to respond efficiently to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by acting now.
While acknowledging the critical importance of the adoption of a European Statement on HIV Prevention for an AIDS Free Generation by the European Commission and Ministers on 30 November, Stop AIDS Alliance says that the EU still has a crucial role to play in the response to HIV/AIDS, especially in the coming months; the EU is about to decide on its financial perspectives, which will impact the level of funding for HIV/AIDS, and there is much speculation about the current negotiations on intellectual property (TRIPS) and access to medicines ahead of December’s Hong Kong World Trade Organization ministerial conference.
Speakers at the Development Committee meeting at the European Parliament shared experiences of living positively with HIV/AIDS in developing countries, and the consequences of living with stigma. They called on MEPs to ensure and promote the involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS in decision making at all levels. Speakers also talked about the scale of the problem of access to treatment, with 6.5 million urgently needing anti-retroviral treatment. Recommendations to the European Parliament by the group of international NGOs calls on the EU to scale up prevention policies, to ensure access to affordable medicines, to promote research and development on preventive and medicinal tools, and to ensure sufficient funding to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
World AIDS Day also highlighted the support among certain MEPs for comprehensive responses to HIV/AIDS: one year after the adoption of the European Parliament resolution on HIV/AIDS, Members of the European Parliament have come up with a declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS: Stop AIDS, keep the promise. And, after spending much of the day in the European parliament, the Stop AIDS Alliance managed to get most MEPs to wear red ribbons in parliament.
Josep Borrell, president of the European Parliament said in a speech for the opening of the plenary, “The European Parliament must mobilise efforts and political influence to focus on this issue. The mobilisation so far has been strong but inadequate - we must make citizens aware that the AIDS pandemic continues to expand.”
“AIDS is also a matter of inequality. We in the industrialised world have assistance and prevention, and research for vaccinations, but most do not have this possibility.“
