By the end of 2004, 700 000 people living with AIDS in developing countries were receiving antiretroviral (ART) treatment thanks to the efforts of national governments, donors and other partners. This is an increase of approximately 75% in the total number receiving treatment from a year ago, and is up from 440 000 in July 2004.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has renewed Dr Peter Piot’s appointment as Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations for four more years. “I am delighted that Dr Piot will continue to lead the response of the United Nations to HIV/AIDS for the next four years,” said Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “This is a crucial time in our fight against the epidemic, and in our work to mobilize the world against this unique threat to human development and security.

I wish to join today with the legions of activists and advocates in Africa and worldwide who salute the quite remarkable collaboration on the provision of anti-retroviral drugs, jointly announced by The Clinton Foundation, The World Bank, UNICEF and the Global Fund. This initiative, along with WHO’s

Nelson Mandela continues to be an icon in the struggle against HIV and AIDS through his unwavering and outspoken stance on stigma and discrimination towards those living with and affected by the epidemic.

The Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) will be officially designated an “international best practice” by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) during a press launch of the joint CARICOM/UNAIDS Secretariats’ publication: Common Goals, Shared Responses: A Case Study on the Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP).

Today is Human Rights Day, the 56th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the last of this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence. It is also a day on which intolerable numbers of women will suffer violent assaults, and on which many will be infected with HIV.

UNAIDS is pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs Mero Kececioglu-Kylicas as Special Envoy of UNAIDS.

Today, women and girls account for nearly half of the 37.2 million adults living with HIV worldwide. Over the past two years, the number of women infected with the virus has increased in every region of the globe, and if current trends continue, women and girls will soon outnumber men and boys infected with HIV.

Press Release published at the occasion of World AIDS Day 2004 in which former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Speaks on the growing impact of AIDS and calls on the financial sector to respond.

Today, more than 100 creative and programming directors from 35 media companies, leading media figures and non-government organizations from around the world are meeting at the United Nations Headquarters to exchange ideas on how to incorporate HIV/AIDS messages into short- and long-form programming.