Honorable Minister Chen Zhu,
Distinguished guests,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good evening. I am pleased to represent my colleagues in the United Nations in China at this important launch.
This is my first time in Guangxi and I was lucky to be able to visit an anti-retroviral therapy clinic and methadone maintenance treatment for intravenous drug users earlier today. What I saw reinforces my views about the good work that's being done, but also the challenges we face in trying to reach universal access to AIDS prevention, treatment and care.
We are all aware that 2010 is the target year for achieving universal access under Millennium Development Goal 6. At the current pace of scaling up priority interventions, most countries in the region, including China, will not meet this target.
The Global Fund Rolling Continuation Channel program on AIDS could not have come at a better time. Now more than ever, we need to look back at the lessons learnt from previous rounds of interventions, and to integrate these valuable experiences into the way forward.
Before we look ahead with the RCC program, let's assess where we are today. A good indicator is the annual progress report developed by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF, titled "Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector".
The 2009 report points to some positive developments in the region. Political commitment and resources available for HIV have increased significantly. Health sector responses have moved from project-based to national programs. Health sector interventions are increasingly prioritized, such as HIV testing and counseling, prevention among the most at-risk populations, as well as treatment and care.
The report also found that coverage is not yet adequate to make a significant impact on the epidemic. More attention must be paid to the quality and sustainability of services, especially for care and treatment. More investment is needed to prevent mother-to-child transmission as countries commit to eliminating paediatric HIV. More efforts must be made to track and monitor the epidemic and responses to it.
"More" may be the operative word here, but we also need to be very strategic if we are to achieve universal access.
In China, a joint mission led by UNAIDS and WHO on the issue took place last October. The mission members recommend that in order to meet the goal of universal access, China should build on sound provincial analysis and strategic planning to develop a fully costed and national AIDS strategy and action plan by this year. They also advise a significant increase in the quantity and quality of anti-retroviral coverage and a rapid increase in coverage to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
China needs to strengthen and standardize how it estimates the size of most at-risk populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users. It needs to speed up outreach efforts on preventive measures among these groups. It needs to develop and implement policies and programs that guarantee equitable access to prevention, treatment and care for all Chinese migrants without a local hukou, It needs to fully support the implementation of the new drug law, and to strengthen civil society's participation in response to AIDS.
At the same time, we know that HIV/AIDS is not a standalone problem. Tuberculosis is a major cause of death among people living with HIV. China's data is in line with international trends in showing that these people need early diagnosis and treatment of TB. A recent Global Fund project showed that 80% of TB/HIV infected cases were found by screening people living with HIV for TB, while only 20% were found by screening TB patients for HIV. High mortality rates were found in such patients.
Where TB is not present among people living with HIV, they should receive TB preventive treatment. Overall, TB/HIV activities should be scaled up immediately, especially in the areas of isoniazid preventive therapy, intensified case finding and infection control.
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
HIV/AIDS is not just a public health issue, but also a social one. To address it, we need to mobilize whole societies and to integrate information with human, technical and financial resources.
The Global Fund Rolling Continuation Channel program on AIDS offers us the platform to do so. Starting today, this six-year program will help us to effectively consolidate resources for AIDS prevention and control in China. It combines one strategy, one action plan and a common pool of resources to identify gaps and avoid duplication.
This approach fulfills the principles to make aid effective. It encourages ownership as China exercises effective leadership over its development policies, strategies and actions. It aligns the Global Fund's support with national development strategies, institutions and procedures. It involves managing resources and improving decision-making for results. It leads to donor actions that are more harmonized, transparent and collectively effective. It also promotes mutual accountability where donors and partners are accountable for the results.
The RCC program on AIDS in China will be coordinated by the State Council AIDS Working Committee and the Ministry of Health, and implemented by the National Centre for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under this program, WHO will continue to work with our counterparts to provide more concrete technical support to develop norms and standards and provide policy guidance, strategic information, capacity building and operational research.
We will join other UN agencies in our continued work with government agencies at the central and local levels. Partnerships will also continue with research institutes, the private sector and civil society, including people living with HIV, the most at-risk groups and grassroots non-governmental organizations. We are confident that this ongoing collaboration and support will help to strengthen China's coordinating, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
Together, let us build on our shared knowledge and experience to tackle AIDS head on. And let us not let 2010 be marred by a missed target, but let it be marked as the beginning of the end of this epidemic's spread in China.
Thank you.