World AIDS Day 2002
"Live and Let Live"

The impact of HIV/AIDS is rolling back decades of socio-economic growth in developing countries. Around the world, an estimated 5 million people became infected in 2001, 800 000 of them children. Without effective treatment and care, they will join the ranks of the more than twenty million people who have already died of AIDS. HIV/AIDS is also rapidly weakening economic stability, particularly in the most fragile markets of sub-Saharan Africa, which is by far the worst affected region in the world. Labour productivity has been cut by up to 50 per cent in the hardest-hit countries. Faltering basic services such as health, welfare, and judicial systems, are significantly impeding our efforts to help developing countries meet the governance challenge posed by the epidemic.

Halting the spread of HIV/AIDS is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals - and it is no exaggeration to say that unless the world meets this one, it has little prospect of meeting the others, particularly the overarching target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. That is why the Declaration of Commitment adopted at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001 clearly defines time-bound targets and calls for a fundamental shift in the international community's response to HIV/AIDS. As the UN's global development network, UNDP has responded to that call by making HIV/AIDS one of our six core priorities, working across the world to help governments respond to the multifaceted challenges it imposes.

This year's theme "Live and let Live" is a particular call for the intensification of our efforts to address stigma and discrimination and to generate hope. Stigma manifests itself through our personal interactions, within our families, communities and in the workplace. It is no longer enough to recognize how stigma affects us, we must be creative and innovative to develop and implement strategies that will help individuals, families, and communities to survive this epidemic.

UNDP around the world has implemented a comprehensive policy to support our own staff and their families living with HIV/AIDS and we are working intensively to support developing countries to establish legislations and administrative measures to prevent stigma and discrimination. To support selected country offices in achieving our goals, UNDP is also financing the "We Care" initiative, which works in key countries to ensure the protection of the rights of those affected by HIV/AIDS and providing a supportive work environment free from discrimination and stigmatization. Through a combination of personal example, professional commitment and expertise, we are committed to doing everything we can to respond to the decade's most severe epidemic- HIV/AIDS.

© Copyright and Fair Use
SDNP Bangladesh holds the © copyright to its publications and web pages
but encourages duplication of these materials for noncommercial
purposes. Proper citation is required.
Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP)
E-17 Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
 Email: info@sdnbd.org