H.E. RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU - ADDRESS AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF ICAAP 11

19/11/2013


HIS EXCELLENCY RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU
CF, LVO, OBE (Mil), OStJ, CSM, MSD
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI
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ADDRESS AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF ICAAP 11
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Bangkok Tuesday 19thNovember, 2013
THAILAND
1500hrs
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Distinguished participants
Ladies and gentlemen

We are here together to strengthen our commitment as a region to join the global effort in our response to HIV & AIDS through the visionary goal – zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths.

We are also here as a community to expand the region’s knowledge, best practices and lessons-learned on HIV & AIDS to accelerate our progress towards achieving our targets.

The HIV epidemic is posing a very serious health and developmental problem in the Asia Pacific region especially when the potential for epidemic growth is real.

Very few countries with limited resources have been able to reduce HIV transmission, but, where activities have been successful, they have been guided by adequate epidemiological knowledge.
The achievements that we have accomplished within the region and globally as well, reflect the synergistic efforts of diverse stakeholders – the leadership and commitment of national governments, the solidarity of the international community, the innovation by programme implementers, the historic advances achieved by the scientific research community and the passionate engagement of civil society, most notably people living with HIV themselves.

As a result of working together, many countries within the region are now within reach of achieving several of the key targets outlined in the 2011 United Nations political declaration on HIV and AIDS, and they are thus making clear progress towards the Millennium Development Goal 6.

As we celebrate our extraordinary progress, we should also be conscious
that we will not stop HIV & AIDS by just having more sophisticated drugs and only focusing on the generalized epidemic.

We should focus on the complexities of the concentrated epidemics.

The worrisome groups are fairly clearly defined: transmission of infection through sharing of used needles by drug users, sex workers, gay and bisexual men and transgender who are often criminalized and have little access to health services.

We need to make a difference in these populations.

There is a need for a shift in the collective mindset to put equity and human rights at the center of the battle against HIV.

We need to effectively address the challenges faced by the key affected
populations. If we do not deliver the right response, we will fail to deliver an end to AIDS.

We need to strengthen strategic health communication strategies in our preventative programmes, and also continue with our treatment and continuum of care services especially to our targeted population to further reduce the number of new HIV infections.

As HIV testing and counseling services progress, there is a need to strengthen the linkages between HIV testing and counseling and other established services to maximize uptake of prevention and treatment interventions.

Health system strengthening is essential in the scaling up of HIV related services. There is a need to employ evidence-informed policies and guidelines to ensure the optimal use of resources and a more sustainable response to HIV & AIDS.

Stigma remains a major impediment to the provision of effective prevention, treatment and care responses across the region and the world over. It is one of the greatest obstacles to a successful response to HIV & AIDS.

For instance, stigma deters many individuals from accessing AIDS programmes and services such as voluntary counseling and testing, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV as well as A-R-T free access.

Too many people from key populations are still unable to access the services they need either through the fear of stigma and discrimination and or for fear of legal recriminations.

Stigma has stubbornly sustained a culture of silence, hence the silent spread of HIV/AIDS.

Strong political and community leadership including that from people living with HIV/AIDS can play a critically important role in tackling stigma and discrimination.

Fiji has risen to the challenge of removing legal barriers to effective HIV
programmes and tackling stigma and discrimination through legal reforms.

In Fiji, we saw that the constant threat of arrest, conviction and incarceration faced by men who have sex with men increased their vulnerability to HIV and made them hard to reach.

Fiji became the first Pacific Island country with colonial-era sodomy laws to formally decriminalize sex between men when it passed the Fiji National Crimes Decree in February 2010.

In early 2011, the Government of Fiji enacted the Fiji HIV/AIDS decree.

This was internationally compliant in addressing the human rights violations that acted as barriers to the HIV response.

The decree removed HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence, adding Fiji to a growing list of countries that are aligning their National HIV
Legislation with international public health standards.

The decree also removed HIV-specific criminal offences for HIV transmission or exposure.

The benefits of these legal changes have since materialized with improved and willing access to services for those in our population most at risk of HIV.

But our work in Fiji is not done.

However, the decree was a significant starting point in harnessing the protective power of laws to tackle stigma and discrimination head-on and to bring our country closer to the goal of an end to AIDS.

We need to continuously review and renew our efforts and our commitments on our response to HIV & AIDS, especially to our commitments in achieving and sustaining universal access to antiretroviral treatment.

We need to recognize the importance of sustaining funding for A-R-T to protect our current achievements, and also enhance treatment and prevention outcomes.

Cambodia’s success story in achieving universal access through the adoption of a continuum of care approach that links testing, care, treatment and community based support is a lesson for us to follow.

Let us not forget the need to continuously increase our efforts to promote youth participation and commitment; more services aimed at youth; more parental involvement; more education and information, using schools and other sites; more protection for girls, orphaned children and young women; and more partnerships with people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.

The gains on our response to HIV & AIDS are still fragile and sustainability on these gains is crucial to break the epidemic trend.

Through the full application of recent innovations, we have come to realize that our vision of “ending” AIDS is possible even though a cure and a vaccine are still distant hopes.

Paving a pathway to end AIDS and reaching the 2015 Millennium Development Goals and high level meeting targets, is only possible if we lay out a comprehensive approach to meet the challenges of the epidemic.

It is my hope that through this conference, we can drive sustained action, to further our progress and achieve the results to get the Asia-Pacific region to the ultimate vision of - zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths.

Thank you.
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