Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-01-Speech-4-008-000"
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"en.20111201.2.4-008-000"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, today is World Aids Day. Our Parliament felt that it was very important that we adopt this resolution in order to send a strong message.
Although the AIDS epidemic is on the decline worldwide and is probably far less visible, we must not let our guard down: it remains a blight today. It affects over 12 million young people aged 15 to 25, including 500 000 in Europe, and so we need to rally all our political forces.
As Mr Dalli has just said, the European Commission adopted an action plan to combat HIV/AIDS for the period 2009-2013. A mid-term review is important because it will allow us to take stock and identify exactly what progress has been made. The reality is that over 50 000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year in the European Union and neighbouring countries.
Within the Union, almost 30% of those who are HIV-positive do not know that they are infected – the figure is as high as 70% in several neighbouring countries. Consequently, this is a serious problem for political decision makers, which means us. Half of HIV-positive patients are still treated late, reaching advanced stages of infection before being diagnosed and starting treatment.
What is more, recent findings show that the risk of transmitting the virus to uninfected partners can be reduced by 96% if patients take retroviral drugs from the moment when HIV is diagnosed, rather than when their health begins to decline.
For this reason, it is imperative that the European Union maintain its commitment so as to avoid negating the progress and investments made thus far. We need to beef up prevention and training. We need to improve surveillance. We need to work tirelessly to create networks linking all the stakeholders working to combat this curse. We must also promote the dissemination of good practices and, among other things, make sure that simple yet effective tests are available for our citizens. If these tests become widely available, I think that it will be much easier for everyone to find out whether they are carrying the virus.
This is the challenge facing us. I feel that it is imperative that we remain vigilant and continue our efforts to combat HIV/AIDS."@en1
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