After 25 years, the global response to AIDS is finally gaining momentum, but women and children still are not receiving adequate treatment, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the annual General Assembly meeting on AIDS on Wednesday. Annan attributed the changed response to the 2001 Special Session on AIDS, after which member states started mobilizing against the disease. "The session moved the world's response to a different level. With the Declaration of Commitment, member states adopted a number of specific, time-bound targets for fighting the epidemic," he said. "Most countries have still not ensured that young people have an accurate understanding of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and how it can infect them," said Annan. "Yet today, infections among women are increasing in every part of the world, particularly among young women. Globally, more than twice as many young women are infected as young men." "That is why it is crucial that we have civil society fully engaged in this high-level meeting," said Annan. After the opening session, Annan made remarks at a civil society hearing on AIDS. "To forge a truly collective front, we need the engagement of an exceptionally broad and diverse range of civil society groups," he said. Annan asked civil society groups to work more with people with HIV/AIDS to get their input on creating better programs for prevention and also on caring for those who do fall ill. "HIV-positive people have not been involved nearly enough. The international community has not made full use of their expertise and insight," Annan said. "We must work closely and constructively with those who have too often been marginalized: sex workers, injecting drug users, and men who have sex with men."
