UNESCAP hosts People's Forum on Partnerships to fight HIV/AIDS

Nearly 70 participants from civil society groups gathered at Bangkok recently to deliberate on partnerships to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region.

Organized by the Health and Development Section, the People's Forum was held through three colourful and lively days at the United Nations' Conference Centre (Bangkok, 15-17 October 2002).

The Forum provided an opportunity for the exchange of ideas by a range of civil society voices across the Asia-Pacific region-including those representing youth, people living with HIV/AIDS, sex workers and religious communities-as inputs to UNESCAP's work on HIV/AIDS.

The Forum specifically sought stakeholder inputs on the following forthcoming UNESCAP activities:

• A Theme study on "Economic and social progress in jeopardy: HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific"
• A compendium of innovations and good practices on HIV prevention, care and support;
• An advocacy kit to promote multi-ministerial/multi-sectoral responses to HIV/AIDS
• A publication on youth action against HIV/AIDS;
• An exhibition for the 59th session of the Commission on stigma and discrimination.

The three-day discussions were held in workshop settings, enabling in-depth exchange of views and concrete suggestions for UNESCAP's work on HIV/AIDS in the coming year. The Forum was made possible through generous funding support from AusAID.

UNESCAP Promotes South-South Cooperation in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

The HIV/AIDS crisis is today recognized by the United Nations as a global emergency, and the largest development challenge of our times. Alarmed by the accelerating epidemic and its global impact, the General Assembly adopted resolution 55/13 on "Review of the problems of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in all its aspects" in November last year. It was here decided, as a matter of urgency, that a special session of the General Assembly be convened (25-27 June 2001, New York) to review and address the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects.

The resolution calls upon the regional commissions to be actively involved in the preparatory activities and to participate at the highest level in the special session (New York, 25-27 June 2001). UNESCAP rapidly followed suit, and called for a special agenda item on HIV/AIDS during the 57th session of the annual Commission. The agenda item was organized by the Human Resources Development Section of the Social Development Division, in close collaboration with UNAIDS.

The Commission Session provided a forum for South-South dialogue on the HIV/AIDS crisis. Two former Heads of state/government representing two continents, Africa and Asia, addressed the session. H.E. Mr Kenneth Kaunda, former President of Zambia, comes from a country with one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world (20%). H. E. Mr Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand, was responsible for launching Thailand's nation-wide prevention campaign in 1991, thus ensuring that Thailand was the first country in Asia to take comprehensive action to address the epidemic. The two former leaders exchanged lessons on the HIV/AIDS situation in their respective countries, shared strategies for future implementation, and mounted a joint call for governments at the highest level to commit themselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Other eminent speakers who attended the session on HIV/AIDS included the Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, a senior representative from the private sector, as well as a young health educator living with HIV/AIDS. A joint UNESCAP/UNAIDS/UNDCP exhibition, in collaboration with the Duang Prateep Foundation, on "Uniting for Human Security in Asia and the Pacific" was also held.

The Commission adopted a resolution on "Regional call for action to fight the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Asia and the Pacific", which called upon governments, UNESCAP and other concerned partners to secure commitment to fight the epidemic in the region.