The [him] moderator is surprised to hear that one Min Tin was said to say: "We have no anti-viral drugs." Is s/he not aware of the antiretroviral therapy programmes being implemented in Mandalay or in sites where the international NGO Medecins sans Frontieres Holland has clinics?

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Asian nations talk anti-Aids strategy

Pattaya (dpa) - Delegates from 22 Asia-Pacific nations met Tuesday to begin drawing up regional plans for universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, which they hope will be funded by industrialised countries.

The three-day meeting was one of seven regional consultations being held globally among governmental, non-governmental, community and faith-based organizations dealing with public health.

"We will make sure that the universal-access process makes a difference, both in advocacy and in practical actions to help countries overcome obstacles to scaling up," said Michel Sidibe, UNAids Director of Country and Regional Support.

The backdrop to the latest push for regional planning was the pledge by the G-8 industrialized nations to give $50 billion in aid to developing countries by 2010, part of it for HIV/Aids programmes.

Twenty per cent of the 40 million people living with HIV and Aids globally are from the Asia-Pacific region. Aids has claimed more than half a million lives and more than one million people became newly infected in the region last year alone, UNAids said.

One of the fastest-growing rates of HIV infection is in Burma, where even the highly secretive military dictatorship has acknowledged at least 338,000 cases.

"We hope that after this meeting we will have more finanical support for prevention, treatment and care, because we have a huge shortfall," said Burmese delegate Min Tin. "We have no anti-viral drugs."

But some observers expressed doubts about what the developed and developing nations will ultimately achieve, apart from pledges and pronouncements.

Mechai Viravaidya, a long-time advocate of family planning and HIV prevention in Thailand, said there must be more real progress made at the local level apart from seeking outside funding.

"I wonder what this conference will accomplish. There's not much the UN can do if there is no country commitment," said Mecahi, a Thai senator and director of the Population and Community Development Association.

The UN's Sidibe said the conference was important for identifying the key areas for necessary long-term investment of prevention and treatment, after which funding proposals for new programmes would be made.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=79514

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"Asia-Pacific Nations Plan Strategies for Tackling HIV/AIDS"
Deutsche Presse-Agentur    (02.14.06)

Today in Pattaya, Thailand, delegates from 22 Asia-Pacific nations
began drafting regional plans for providing universal access to HIV
prevention and treatment that they hope will be funded by
industrialized nations.

The three-day meeting is one of seven being held in regions across
the world that include governmental, non-governmental, community and
faith-based organizations dealing with public health. The push for
regional planning was prompted by the recent G-8 pledge to provide
$50 billion in aid to developing countries by 2010, some of it for
HIV/AIDS programs.

Of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 20 percent
are in the Asia-Pacific region. According to UNAIDS, AIDS claimed
the lives of more than half a million people in the region last year
and more than one million people became newly infected.

"We will make sure that the universal-access process makes a
difference, both in advocacy and in practical actions, to help
countries overcome obstacles to scaling up," said Michel Sidibe,
UNAIDS director of country and regional support. Sidibe added that a
conference goal is to identify the key areas needed for long-term
investment of prevention and treatment, after which funding
proposals for new programs can be made.

But Mechai Viravaidya, a Thai senator and director of the Population
and Community Development Association, said real commitments must be
made at the local level apart from seeking outside funding. "I
wonder what this conference will accomplish. There's not much the UN
can do if there is no country commitment," said Mechai, a long-time
advocate of HIV prevention and family planning.