Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-30-Speech-4-009"
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"en.20061130.4.4-009"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in recent years considerable progress has been made, broadly speaking, in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including better access to effective treatment and to prevention programmes. Nevertheless, the number of people infected with HIV or dying of AIDS continues to grow. By the end of 2006, almost 40 million people will have been infected with HIV, 2.6 million more than at the end of 2004. It is estimated that in 2006 4.3 million people, both adults and children, have been newly infected with HIV, which is 400 000 more than two years ago.
As previous speakers have mentioned, the Commission has, in conjunction with the Member States, undertaken to fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic by means of a range of measures aimed at prevention, treatment, support and care. We are fully aware that the ultimate goal of a generation without AIDS is unattainable without firm political commitment, informed leadership and increased resources at global, national and local levels.
We face a huge challenge: making further progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS and ensuring that prevention and treatment will be fully available to all those who need them by 2010. We urgently need a more balanced strategy aimed at increasing prevention and treatment and ensuring access to affordable treatment, in particular as regards patented second-tier medicines. We must therefore mobilise the political will for this in Europe. We must work more closely with the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on developing new methods of prevention, in particular microbicides, which will provide better prevention for women and will ensure that new medicines are more affordable. The pharmaceutical industry must be encouraged to carry out research and to develop vaccines and other products to combat HIV/AIDS. Lastly, we must make sure that the partner countries receive long-term reliable funding to support them in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In this connection, the Commission will continue to work, on a broader scale, with the help of the financial instruments at both national and global levels, including the global fund for the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. We need strong support and cooperation from all of the EU institutions, however, including Parliament, as they are responsible for the annual allocation of financial resources. In the fight against HIV/AIDS, we have the opportunity to achieve better results, but this requires political will. The Commission firmly believes that the ultimate aims, namely a generation without AIDS and making treatment and care available to all those who need it, are attainable. I look forward to working with Parliament to achieve those aims.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains at the forefront of this epidemic. More than 63% of all adults infected with HIV now live in Sub-Saharan African countries, and 33% in South Africa. The biggest increase in the past two years has been observed in Eastern Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the number of people infected with HIV has risen by 21%. The continuing growth in the number of newly diagnosed infections in most EU Member States, together with the results of Eurobarometer surveys from 2005, indicate that levels of awareness on epidemics in the EU and in neighbouring countries must be raised as a matter of urgency and that prevention programmes in this field must be strengthened. The strategy set up by the Commission in 2005 was centred around the priority of strengthening prevention, treatment and care in certain regions.
Despite these disturbing figures, there has been a reduction in the incidence of AIDS in some African and Caribbean countries and in some regions of southern Asia. It is possible to reverse the trend. There are more women around the world infected with HIV than ever before. In 2006, the number of infected women has reached 17.7 million, a million cases more than in the last two years. The situation in Sub-Saharan African countries is worse still. Women account for 60% of adults of 15 years and above infected with HIV. In addition to biological factors, and the fact that women and girls are much more susceptible to becoming infected with HIV, social and economic factors arising from gender inequality and the neglect of their rights also play a part. Equal rights for women is a key social challenge and an essential prerequisite for even-handed development and increased HIV prevention. In order that girls and women around the world can gain access to sexual and reproductive health, health services in developing countries must be strengthened so as to establish voluntary counselling, medical examinations, healthcare and support, as part of an all-round package.
Access to medicines and healthcare has improved considerably in recent years, although in most countries it was starting from a very low base. Thanks to the increased provision of antiretroviral treatment, some 2 million lives have been saved in almost four years and even in countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, some 8 000 people have received treatment. Nevertheless, despite this welcome progress, the situation gives cause for concern, and the international community needs to devote more attention to it.
The Commission is setting up intensive assistance, for partner countries in Africa and elsewhere, geared towards combating epidemics by means of integrating prevention, treatment and care. HIV/AIDS cannot be viewed as an isolated problem because it highlights all of the major problems facing developing countries, namely restricted access to basic social services, gender inequality, unequal distribution of resources, ineffective public administration and low levels of economic and technological development. HIV/AIDS is closely linked with malaria and tuberculosis, which are also poverty-related infectious diseases. HIV/AIDS can only be combated successfully if the partner countries fight against it in the context of efforts to reduce poverty.
The main principle underpinning the European political framework adopted in 2004, and the European Programme for Action to Confront HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis adopted the following year, is an integrated approach to HIV. The European Programme for Action must be implemented and coordinated by the Commission, both at State and at worldwide level. It is indeed the partner countries that are in the best position to decide the most effective way of distributing resources effectively, fairly and transparently among the various initiatives.
Over the course of the years, the Commission has continually increased its resources in the fight against HIV/AIDS in all developing countries, especially in Africa, where it is providing assistance to partner countries via budgetary support in their efforts to address the structural factors underlying the HIV epidemic, such as healthcare reforms and the crisis in the area of human resources in the heath sector. Among other initiatives, the Commission has also invested a considerable amount of money, EUR 522 million over five years, in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries from the global fund for the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. During 2006, the Commission’s role in the global fund was fully confirmed by the fact that the board elected a Member of the European Commission to the post of Vice-President of the fund.
The Commission has traditionally taken the lead in efforts to improve access to antiretroviral drugs in developing countries and to ensuring the full availability of treatment and access to prevention for those who need them by 2010, and has played a central role in reducing the cost of pharmaceutical products. In some cases, there has been a reduction of up to 98%, which has been achieved by means of introducing a price varying mechanism that enables developing countries to pay less for patented medicines while protecting manufacturers from the re-import of these products into open markets where profits can be made.
Also in the framework of the WTO, the Commission is helping the poorest countries, whose production capacity is limited, to exercise their rights to import cheap generic medicines produced with compulsory licences. The Commission has also increased investment in the research and development of vaccines and other means of prevention, such as microbicides, with a view to broadening the existing range of HIV prevention mechanisms. The Commission will continue with these efforts to make prevention and treatment fully available to all those who need it by 2010."@en1
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