Universal Access and Human Rights

On World AIDS Day people from around the globe come together in solidarity with people living with HIV to raise awareness about the disease and to urge governments and leaders to fulfill their promises to do what it takes to halt and reverse the spread of the disease.

2009 marks the 21st anniversary of World AIDS Day. Together with its partners, the World AIDS Campaign set this year’s theme for World AIDS Day as ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, recognizing these as fundamental human rights. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved.

The challenge is particularly difficult because many more people are still being infected with the virus than are starting treatment. For every two people who begin treatment, five more people are getting infected, so it is critical that prevention efforts are strengthened alongside ensuring universal access to treatment.

World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us to review progress and ensure that human rights are safeguarded and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are on course to be met. This includes placing much greater emphasis than before on protecting the human rights of groups especially vulnerable to infection, such as injecting drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men.

In addition, prioritising the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is an effective way of reaching HIV-positive women and their children, who frequently are excluded from healthcare because of economic and social inequalities.