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1. Kofi Annan, Secretary General United Nations

2. Nelson Mandela, Former President of Republic of South Africa

3. Winstone Zulu of Kara Counseling and Training Trust, Zambia

4. Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the International Partnership for Microbicides

5. Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS

6. Dr. Malcolm Potts, Bixby Professor University of California

7. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand

8. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director United Nations Population Fund

9. Raoul Fransen, Young Positives

10. Shabana Azmi, UNICEF spokesperson

11. Sonia Gandhi, Member of Parliament, India

“Leadership means daring to do things differently, because you understand AIDS is a different kind of disease”,

-Kofi Annan, Secretary General United Nations:

"We need strong leadership at every level- including at the top. Leadership means showing the way by example:

1. By breaking the deadly wall of silence that continues to surround the (AIDS) epidemic;

2. By achieving the cultural shifts needed to fight it effectively;

3. By working to scale up the response—including providing treatment to all those who need it.

We need leaders every where to demonstrate that speaking up about AIDS is appoint of pride, not a source of shame. There must be no sticking heads in the sand, no more embarrassment, no more hiding behind a veil of apathy.

But leadership comes not only from those who hold positions of power. Leadership comes from partners who make sure they always use a condom. Leadership comes from fathers, husbands, sons and uncles who support and affirm rights of women.

Leadership comes from men working to ensure that men assume their responsibility- in abstaining from sexual behaviour that puts others at risk.

Leadership means respecting and upholding the human rights of all who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS-whether sex workers, drug users, or men who have sex with men. That includes their right to treatment, if they are infected.

“We are all here because of our commitment to fighting AIDS. But we cannot win battle against AIDS if we do not also fight TB. TB is too often a death sentence for people with AIDS”,

-Nelson Mandela.

“We have lost ground in fight against TB in the face of spreading AIDS epidemic. The world has made defeating AIDS a top priority. This is a blessing. Today we are calling on the world to recognize that we cannot fight AIDS unless we do much more to fight TB as well.”

“In my own experience many people with HIV died of tuberculosis (TB). In fact TB is the single largest killer of people living with HIV. But this simple fact has not been acknowledged by the world”

-Winstone Zulu of Kara Counseling and Training Trust, Zambia.

“TB control is still considered a low priority; probably it is not the ‘sexy thing’”

“The Global Fund’s (GF) allocation for TB has been persistently low so far. Its expenditure on TB in the two-year budgets from Round one to four has been 397 million dollars as compared to 1666 million dollars spent on HIV. It has spent scarcely 94 million dollars on joint HIV/TB programmes. In Zambia merely ten percent funds have been spent on TB.”

“For women worldwide, being young and married are most significant risk factors for acquiring HIV infection”,

-Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the International Partnership for Microbicides:

“We have all heard the devastating statistics on the (AIDS) epidemic and how it is disproportionately affecting women. In many parts of Africa and Asia women are bearing the brunt of disease, as evidenced by ever increasing number of new (HIV) infections and emotional and physical toll as caregivers.

In studies from Kenya and Zambia, adolescents who are married are contracting HIV faster rate that sexually unmarried teens. And unfortunately, parts of Asia are not far behind.”

“In this day and age (of HIV/AIDS), condoms are our weapons of mass protection”,

-Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS:

"Prevention is the first line of defense against HIV/AIDS, and the correct and consistent use of condoms is a mainstay of HIV prevention approaches”

"There is no evidence that promoting condoms leads to increased promiscuity among young people. In fact, a study from South Africa soon to be published in the journal 'AIDS' underscores that when enough young men use condoms consistently there is a protective effect for both the individual and population at large."

"Condoms must always be promoted as part of an HIV prevention package that includes sexual abstinence, delaying sexual debut, and reduced numbers of sexual partners.”

 

“In countries like India where the epidemic is still in its early days the condoms may be the only saviors.”

-Dr. Malcolm Potts, Bixby Professor University of California:

“Condoms have an undeniable place in HIV prevention. Condoms are a good symbol too. In countries like India where the epidemic is still in its early days the condoms may be the only saviors. Here the use of condoms needs to be promoted amongst commercial sex workers and men having sex with men through peer education.”

“It is estimated that “100 percent condom programme” has averted more than 5 million (HIV) infections among Thai people”,

-Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand

“When we first faced the problem of HIV epidemic among sex workers and their clients, we realized that immediate action needed to be taken. We mounted our response through the so-called “100 percent condom programme”. The program’s strategies focus on the door-to-door education among sex workers and distribution of free condoms in order to promote the use of condom in every sexual act. As a result the rate of use of condom has been raised from a very low level to more than 95% in just a few years. This has been maintained up to the present. At the same time, HIV infection rate among sex workers has dropped from 30 percent in mid-1990s to less than 10 percent today. It is estimated that this simple programme has averted more than 5 million infections among Thai people”.

“It is time for leaders and policy makers to stop arguing about the merits of condoms versus abstinence, because both are options for young people in different settings”,

-Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director United Nations Population Fund

“Condoms are single most efficient, available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV.”

“Resource poor countries need an estimated 12 billion condoms each year and many rely on external assistance. But donors provide only enough funds for about 2.5 billion condoms. As a result there is a serious shortage of condoms, which is hazard to public health.”

“Today I call on all leaders to close the condom gap and increase funding for these essential commodities.”

“Young people are not just a target group to reach, but a resource to reach it with,”

-Raoul Fransen, Young Positives

I am constantly told: “ Youth are the future”

Youth may be the future, but we are also the present, and the present shows:

1. 50% of the 15,000 new infections each day are among persons aged 15 to 24, of whom 75% are girls.

2. In sub-Saharan Africa more than half the population is estimated to be less than 18 years old.

3. More than a third of all people are now people living with HIV/AIDS are young people between ages of 15 and 24, and almost two-third of them are girls.

Young people are often seen as a mere target for prevention. Rather than being taught not to have sex, young people-with or without HIV- should be enabled to make the choice-be this abstinence or partner reduction, or having access to condoms-that is right for them; they should be supported in discovering their sexuality, its pleasures and its risks. The key lies in giving us a choice- not an ideology.

 

“ Let us get real about HIV and AIDS. Today’s young people are simply following in the footsteps of generations before them. The danger lies in not telling them enough about the choices they have, and in failing to give them the knowledge and support that can keep them safe”

-Shabana Azmi, UNICEF spokesperson

“Over 5.2 million people in South Asia are living with HIV/AIDS, the overwhelming majority of them are in India. Most new infections are among young people below the age of 25, and are primarily driven by high-risk behaviour- injecting drug use, commercial sex and sex between men. The region is home to world’s fastest growing epidemics. Cross border migration, poverty gender inequality and trafficking are also major factors in spread of HIV/AIDS in South Asia.”

"Given the scale of suffering wrought by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is to be expected that doomsday scenario of its spread are commonplace. My country figures in all these projections",

-Sonia Gandhi, Member of Parliament, India

"While there is no room for complacency, I would like to take this opportunity to categorically assert the determination and ability of the Government and the people of India to meet this daunting challenge (of HIV/AIDS pandemic), just as effectively as they did in the campaign to eradicate smallpox decades ago."