World AIDS Day 2005

On 30th November, the day before World AIDS day, I joined Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, at a conference in London of all the EU states. The delegates heard presentation on the HIV/AIDS epidemic from experts from Africa, India and South America.

At the end of the debate following the presentations a statement was agreed which commits the EU to further action to halt the spread of HIV infection. The statement is particularly concerned with prevention measures. A copy of the statement can be downloaded as a PDF file. Right click the link and choose 'Save Target As' to do this.

After the conference I met campaigners from the STOP AIDS campaign. I have been working with them on trying to ensure that the world's leaders stick to the promises made at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, and especially to the commitment to universal access to anti-retroviral drugs across the world by 2010.

In the evening I co-hosted a reception for the delegates to the conference and representatives of many major NGOs working in the filed of HIV, which was sponsored by the Department for International Development. The NGOs issued a statement in response to the EU proposals. A copy of this statement, the Civil Society Response, can be downloaded as a PDF file. Right click the link and choose 'Save Target As' to do this.

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