UN News Centre, 20 July 2014

20 July 2014 – The head of the United Nations agency dealing with HIV and AIDS today urged world leaders at an international conference in Australia to end the hypocrisy on sex and make treatment and reproductive health education universally available.

In his opening remarks to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) received wide applause when he declared, "I'm calling for al end to AIDS by 2030."

He urged world leaders to "stop the hypocrisy and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights."

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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE – DAY 1 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE 19.00 AEST - SUNDAY 20 JULY 2014

Sunday, 20 July, 2014 (Melbourne, Australia) Tributes were paid tonight at the opening session of the 20th International AIDS Confer ence to the six delegates who lost their lives aboard flight MH17.

A one minute global moment of remembrance was held in their honour with eleven
former, present and future Presidents of the International AIDS Society onstage together with representatives from those organizations who lost colleagues, the World Health Organization, AIDS Fonds, Stop AIDS Now, The Female Health Company, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and members of the Dutch HIV research community.

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Blog AIDS 2014, 20 July 2014

As the president of a company whose antiretroviral (ARV) products are helping approximately 40% of people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world, I truly am inspired by the theme for this year's meeting – Stepping up the Pace!

My company, Mylan, is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. We are committed to setting new standards in health care and providing 7 billion people access to high quality medicine. Since 2007, for instance, we have lowered ARV costs for tenofovir-based treatment by more than 50% in developing countries, helping to increase the number of people on treatment to 12 million by the end of 2012. Further, we are investing $250 million USD to increase our ARV-manufacturing capacity – for the millions more who still need access.

Our efforts, combined with those of many other caring and dedicated organizations, have helped reduce the overall cost of providing HIV/AIDS treatment to approximately $250 per person per year in low- and lower-middle income countries. In fact, of the $18.9 billion spent on HIV programs there in 2012, only 8%, or $1.5 billion, was spent on ARVs. Put another way, the cost of ARV drugs no longer represents the barrier to access it once did.

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Blog AIDS 2014, 20 July 2014

Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection in Australia have continued to rise; 2012 saw the highest annual rise in 20 years. This reveals the limitations of established HIV prevention methods and underscores the need to evaluate the received wisdom of the past. Future prevention strategies should involve an emphasis on positive communities and the installation of the positive voice at the very centre of the HIV response.

PozAction (www.napwha.org.au/about-us/poz-action) is a radical new movement that demands a central and vital role for PLHIV in Australia's HIV response. It is a group, made up of the operational leadership of the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) and its four largest member organisations, guided by the priorities and directions set by the positive membership base. It seeks to enhance the potential of HIV positive engagement and leadership by sharing best practice, collaborating on joint projects and identifying common cross-jurisdictional issues for PLHIV. Its power lies in a coordinated implementation strategy that ensures maximum effect through efforts in concert across all jurisdictions. Members are currently working collectively to combat the criminalisation of HIV, to define and promote the crucial role of PLHIV in prevention efforts and to remove barriers to testing and treatments access.

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