World AIDS Day 2011 focuses on preventing HIV

(December 01, 2011) The Vatican has urged for the promotion of universal access to therapies for those infected with HIV AIDS, the prevention of transmission from mother child, and to have a correct and responsible approach to sexuality. The Holy See’s Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers in its message for the World AIDS Day of 2011, said that in addition, this is a privileged moment to re-launch the fight against social prejudice and to reaffirm the need for moral, spiritual and as far as this is possible material proximity to those who have contracted the infection and to their family relatives. Cardinal Zygmunt Zimowski, the President of the Council while presenting the Message on Thursday, said that although the international community began to work against this infection over twenty years ago, unfortunately it is estimated that 1,800,000 people still die every year because of HIV. These are people who could lead normal lives if they only had access to suitable pharmacological therapies, those known as antiretroviral therapies. By now the transmission of the infection from mothers to their children, who often become its victims even before they begin to see the outlines of the world that surrounds them, equally, cannot be justified.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in his message for the World AIDS Day said that the world is finally in a position to end the epidemic of HIV and AIDS. The progress we have made so far is proof that we can realize our vision of zero new HIV infections, which is also the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day, leading to zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths, he said. Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 34 million people living with HIV. During 2010 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus, including an estimated 390,000 children. Despite a significant decline in the estimated number of AIDS-related deaths over the last five years, there were nearly 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths in 2010. Mr Ban said that with strong political will, reasonable financial resources and a firm human rights-based approach, we can achieve all of the planned targets.
For the Catholic Church, health care is essentially an expression of concern for the sick and the suffering, following the footsteps of her master, Jesus the divine healer. Through her vast health care network in India, the Church has always been committed to the cause of HIV/AIDS. Along with the civil society, the church is also committed to work towards this initiative - ‘Getting to Zero: zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths ’ India is expected to avert 3 million new HIV infections during the period 1995-2015 by using targeted interventions among vulnerable groups, according to a World Bank study released on Wednesday.