PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDS REQUIRES PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS, MOBILIZATION
OF ALL SECTORS OF SOCIETY, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS
Theme of Day against Drug Abuse Is ‘Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS’
Following is the message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, 26 June:
The theme of this year’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is “Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS”.� Injecting drug use is the main mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS in many countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.� It is estimated that between five and 10 per cent of global HIV infections are a result of injecting drug use –- an exceptionally potent way of spreading the virus since injecting drug users are often linked in tight networks and commonly share injecting equipment.�
The work of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) as a partner agency with UNAIDS is an important part of the common strategy to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic.� In Brazil and in Eastern Europe, for instance, UNDCP is working on the frontline of campaigns to educate the most vulnerable about the link between intravenous drug use and HIV/AIDS, and the benefits of living a healthy life, free from drugs.�
Preventing HIV/AIDS and stopping drug abuse and trafficking are more than public health concerns.� HIV/AIDS touches every part of society.� Above all, it affects the young disproportionately, decimating the ranks of the skilled and educated during their prime years, with tragic implications for every affected country and region.� Prevention requires political leadership, information and public awareness campaigns in schools and in the workplace, and the mobilization and involvement of all sectors of society, including religious and community leaders.� It also requires urgent action to alleviate poverty, reduce stigma and ensure access to essential social services for all.�
At a special session of the General Assembly four years ago, Member States of the United Nations committed themselves to a vigorous plan of action to combat drug abuse and trafficking.� And last year, at the special session on HIV/AIDS, they pledged to establish policies and programmes to address injecting drug use as
a factor making individuals especially vulnerable to HIV infection.� On this International Day, let us resolve to keep these promises and work together towards a world free from drugs.� In doing so, we will also do much to advance another promise that world leaders reaffirmed at the Millennium Summit in September 2000: to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by the year 2015.
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