Press Release

By Alexander Downer

Australian Foreign Minister

HIV/AIDS is a global emergency. Around the world 20 million people, almost three times the population of the Pacific, have died already. A further 38 million are now living with the disease.

No country is immune from its impact and in the Pacific the disease threatens to unravel years of hard won development gains.

HIV/AIDS impacts on every level of society and, like all of us, Pacific countries should not underestimate the threat the disease poses to their economic and social development.

HIV/AIDS is not only a challenge for health authorities. This is a disease that affects all of a society. It takes away breadwinners and parents - it creates orphans. It places intolerable burdens on people who already face hardships as they struggle with the emotional and economic costs of this scourge.

While the current impact on Pacific nations may appear small, the scale of the challenge needs to be clearly understood. One million new infections occurred in the Asia-Pacific region last year and there are now 7.4 million people living with the disease in the region.

While these numbers are huge compared to the populations of Pacific island countries, what's important to remember is that for a small nation the suffering of just a few has the same economic and social impact on the broader society as it does on a much larger country with significantly more resources.

While a number of Pacific countries still have very low rates of HIV/AIDS, this is not the case for all Pacific nations. It is imperative that efforts throughout the region are intensified now to meet head-on the challenge of HIV/AIDS.

Australia is determined to work in partnership with our Pacific neighbours to help put in place effective and practical programs to prevent the crisis reaching the same levels in the Asia-Pacific that it has reached, tragically, in Africa.

In Fiji on 11 August, my newly appointed Special Representative on HIV/AIDS, Annmaree O...’Keeffe launched a $5 million Pacific HIV/AIDS grant scheme that is available to Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Nauru.

Funded by AusAID, the grant scheme will further assist these nations to develop and implement country specific HIV/AIDS prevention strategies and information campaigns.

The scheme is part of Australia's broader regional HIV/AIDS program, designed to reduce the spread of the disease, and mitigate the effects on people living with HIV/AIDS and on the society to which they belong.

At the Second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS in Bangkok in July this year, I announced a significant funding boost of $350 million over six-years to combat the disease - more than doubling our commitment to a total of $600 million by 2010.

This demonstrates just how seriously the Australian Government views the global battle against HIV/AIDS.

But money alone won...’t solve the problem. Leadership is critical.

Our vigorous support for the Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development will be further strengthened through the provision of an additional $3 million over 3 years.

Strong and visible leadership at all levels and sectors of government and civil society in the Pacific is critical if the impact of HIV/AIDS is to be minimised.

These efforts must be backed up by partnerships at all levels, between the international community through to scientific, health professional and community groups.

Tackling the causes of HIV/AIDS, prevention of its spread and treatment for those living with the virus and its impact is a formidable task.

What is required is leadership at all levels - political leadership, community leadership, business leadership. Without clear vision, wise decision-making and the allocation of appropriate resources by the region's leaders, HIV/AIDS will fester, and a mounting economic and social cost will erode development advances.

Australia is committed to the region's efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS and if we continue working together, I know we can meet the challenge.