Speeches & Texts
World AIDS Day 2011: Leading With Science, Uniting for Action
Berlin, December 1, 2011 (via Podcast)
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy
Mehr als 30 Millionen Menschen sind bereits an HIV/AIDS gestorben und beinahe 35 Millionen Menschen leben mit dieser Erkrankung. Dies sind traurige Zahlen. Am Welt-AIDS-Tag erinnern wir uns an die Menschen hinter diesen Zahlen. Es gibt aber dennoch ermutigende Nachrichten. Neue wissenschaftliche Entwicklungen verändern die Zukunftserwartungen der Betroffenen schnell. Eine Studie hat gezeigt, dass eine anti-retrovirale Behandlung die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Übertragung von HIV auf einen nicht infizierten Partner um 96 Prozent senkt. Das ist erstaunlich. Das ist nur ein Beispiel für die außerordentlichen Fortschritte, die in den vergangenen 30 Jahren gemacht wurden.
[Over 30 million people have died from HIV/AIDS and close to 35 million people are living with the disease. These are sad statistics and on World AIDS Day, we remember the people behind those numbers. There is some good news, however. New scientific developments are rapidly changing the expectations for the future of those who are infected. One study has shown that antiretroviral treatment reduces the likelihood of transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner by 96 percent. That is remarkable. And it is just one example of the extraordinary progress that has been made over the last three decades.]
Science has given us the tools we need to make an AIDS-free generation possible. Working together, we can turn the tide of HIV. That’s the message we need to remember not only today on World AIDS Day, but every day. But in order to accomplish this goal, we need to focus on using our resources as effectively and efficiently as possible. That is the best way to save more lives.
Here’s another example of how that is happening right now. The United States has joined with UNAIDS and other partners to eliminate transmission of HIV from mothers to children by 2015. This goal is achievable: As a result of programs supported through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (or PEPFAR for short), 114,000 babies were born free of HIV in 2010 alone. But we also want to keep the mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters of those babies alive.
More than six million people living with HIV in low-and-middle-income countries are on antiretroviral treatment. Over three million of these individuals are supported through the U.S. PEPFAR program. Many more are supported through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to which the United States and Germany are two of the largest contributors.
Contributions to the Global Fund address public health challenges in an integrated and comprehensive way. They are what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would describe as smart investments because they multiply the impact of national HIV/AIDS initiatives. By expanding the reach of health investments and attracting investments from a range of donors, responses to HIV/AIDS and other diseases are being developed and implemented in the countries where they most count.
The United States is committed to making the Global Fund as effective as possible to sustain these achievements. One thing is clear, to change the face of AIDS, all nations must participate. This disease cannot be overcome by one or two or three nations alone. The Global Fund is, as its name, says a global vehicle for all nations – as well as the private sectors of various countries – to put their investments to work wisely.
Ich glaube, der Welt-AIDS-Tag 2011 fällt in eine Zeit der Hoffnung im Kampf gegen diese Krankheit. Wir haben bereits gute Fortschritte gemacht, aber es bleibt noch viel zu tun. Mithilfe der Wissenschaft und im Geiste gemeinsamer Verantwortung können und werden wir das Ziel einer AIDS-freien Generation erreichen oder wie UN-Generalsekretär Ban Ki Moon sagte, das Ziel von Null Neuinfektionen, Null AIDS-bedingten Todesfällen und auch Null Diskriminierung bis 2020 – und keinesfalls später.
[I believe World AIDs Day 2011 comes at a hopeful moment in the fight against this disease. We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go. But guided by science and in a spirit of shared responsibility, we can – and we will – achieve the goal of an AIDS-free generation, or as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says, by 2020 – and no later – the goal is zero new infections, zero AIDSs-related deaths, and also zero discrimination.]