2 Dec 2009

UN / COMMISSION ON AIDS IN THE PACIFIC

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that Pacific countries must move from planning to implementation. “Action is especially important in Papua New Guinea, which is the overwhelming locus of the Pacific epidemic, with 99 per cent of reported cases in 2008.” UNTV / FILE

Posted at: December 2, 2009 5:30 pm

Duration: 02:17

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / COMMISSION ON AIDS IN THE PACIFIC
TRT: 2.17
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 2 DECEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

2 DECEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Ban Ki-moon arrives to conference room
3. Wide shot, panel
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Misa Telefoni Rezlaff, Chairman of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific:
"We still do not know enough about the nature of the epidemics in the Pacific or indeed the estimated levels of distribution of HIV. We currently rely on case detection and small epidemiological studies. The countries which have the largest numbers of infections are those with the most comprehensive testing systems. We cannot be certain that other countries do not have a larger number of people living with HIV. What we do know is that there are multiple and overlapping epidemics and that each country has its own pattern of infections."
5. Wide shot, handover of report to Ban Ki-moon
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
"Countries must provide and enforce legislative protection for people living with HIV and their families. There can be no effective response to AIDS as long as some parts of the population are marginalized and denied basic health and human rights. This includes people living with HIV, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users."
7. Wide shot, panel
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
"Pacific countries must move from planning to implementation. Action is especially important in Papua New Guinea, which is the overwhelming locus of the Pacific epidemic, with 99 per cent of reported cases in 2008."

FILE – UNICEF - OCTOBER 2005, PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
 
7. Wide shot, ambulance departing the Accident Emergency entrance of a hospital
8. Close up, medical staff attaching blood pressure monitor to a woman's arm
9. Close up, reading of a blood pressure monitor
10. Close up, woman with AIDS patient
11. Med shot, mothers walking down a clinic hallway
12. Close up, child with AIDS
13. Various shots, mothers with children with AIDS

STORYLINE:

An independent Commission on AIDS in the Pacific recommended that HIV cannot be managed in isolation; it should be considered in the overall development context of the region.

The report was launched today (2 December) at the United Nations by the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific and handed over to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The report entitled 'Turning the Tide: An OPEN strategy for a response to AIDS in the Pacific', outlines the key challenges that are blocking the AIDS response in the Pacific and presents decisive steps countries in the region should take to protect their societies, cultures and economies from HIV.

"We still do not now enough about the nature of the epidemics in the Pacific or indeed the estimated levels of distribution of HIV" said Misa Telefoni Retzlaff, Chairman of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific, who launched and handed over the report to the Secretary-General.

Misa Telefoni Retzlaff also said that they currently relied on case detection and small epidemiological studies, and that they could not be certain that other countries did not have a larger number of people living with HIV.

He said that what they did know was that there were "multiple and overlapping epidemics and that each country has its own pattern of infections."

Ban Ki-moon stressed that countries must provide and enforce legislative protection for people living with HIV and their families. He said that there could be no effective response to AIDS as long as some parts of the population were marginalized and denied basic health and human rights.

Ban also said that Pacific countries must move from planning to implementation, and that action was "especially important in Papua New Guinea, which is the overwhelming locus of the Pacific epidemic, with 99 per cent of reported cases in 2008."

Comprising some of the world's smallest, most isolated and least developed countries, the Pacific region spans a third of the world's surface and accounts for just 0.14 percent of the world's population, with a similar proportion of the global burden of HIV.

Reported cases in Papua New Guinea total 28,294 but UNAIDS estimates there are 54,000 people living with HIV. It is estimated that by 2012, Papua New Guinea would have a national prevalence rate of 5.07 percent and a total of 208,714 people would have been infected with HIV.

The predominant means of HIV transmission in the region is unprotected sex. The number of HIV-positive young people is steadily increasing and young women are infected earlier than young men. New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Guam have identified unprotected male-to-male sex and injecting drug use as key drivers of their epidemics.

Although the Commission commended Pacific leaders for acting early to support an AIDS response, it also noted that knowledge is still limited because of poor surveillance and data collection and analysis.

The report also recommends that greater involvement of people living with HIV in matters of policy making and program delivery will strengthen the response.