Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, wrote to the Washington Post on 30 November;

'Every day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS. Every hour almost 600 people become infected. Every minute a child dies of the virus. Just as life and death go on after Sept. 11, so must we continue our fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Before the terrorist attacks two months ago, tremendous momentum had been achieved in that fight. To lose it now would be to compound one tragedy with another.'

'Last June,...the United Nations met in a special session... It adopted a powerful declaration of commitments, calling for a fundamental shift in our response to HIV/AIDS as a global economic, social and development challenge of the highest priority. It reaffirmed the pledge, made by world leaders in their Millennium Declaration, to halt and begin to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015.'

'Life after Sept. 11 has made us all think more deeply about the kind of world we want for our children. It is the same world we wanted on Sept.10, a world in which a child does not die of AIDS every minute.'

On the occasion of World AIDS day, we would like to call your concern and attention to people with the AIDS virus in Asia and other developing countries, who are denied access to drugs available in the West which can prolong their lives, because they cannot afford the medicine. These developing countries are restricted to produce cheaper generic version of the drug due to the trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) which protect patent rights of big drug companies. We hope you would continue to support efforts that will make essential drugs affordable to all those who need them, and to protect public health before commercial interests.

• Third World Network
• Oxfam's Campaign

You may also visit the UNAIDS Home Page for more information

• for World AIDS Campaign - 'I care...Do you?'
• for AIDS Epidemic Update - December 2001