World AIDS Day
was marked around the globe Friday by somber religious
services, boisterous demonstrations, and warnings that far
more needs to be done to treat and prevent the disease
in order to avert millions of additional deaths.
Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko, conceded his
country was losing ground in the race to curb one of
Europe's fastest growing epidemics, saying 100,000
people have been officially registered as HIV-positive.
Every day 40 citizens of the former Soviet
nation are diagnosed with HIV and eight die from AIDS,
Yushchenko said. "Such figures are shocking,"
Yushchenko said in a published address timed to coincide
with World AIDS Day. "We can't be indifferent to them."
UNICEF officials are warning of a public-health
catastrophe in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where
270,000 people are infected, some 90% of them through
intravenous-drug use. "Eastern Europe stands at the
threshold of an AIDS epidemic of catastrophic proportions,
which can only be stopped through a broad-based
educational campaign," said Dietrich Garlichs, German
head of the United Nations Children's Fund.
In Moscow, dozens of believers joined in a
prayer service at the small Russian Orthodox Church of
St. Catherine the Great Martyr. Women lit thin yellow
candles tied with the red ribbons that symbolize the fight
against HIV and AIDS, while priests led prayers. The
Russian Health Ministry said Russia hopes to provide
equal access to antiretroviral drug therapy for all
the HIV-infected.
Chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko said
the number of officially registered cases of HIV in
the country had reached 362,000. But international
agencies and some Russian experts say the true number is
closer to 1 million.
Activists allege that Russia has dragged its
feet in battling the disease. Some scientists say the
nation faces a devastating epidemic in the next decade
if nothing is done, accelerating an already rapid decline
in Russia's population.
In London, the day was marked by services in
Westminster Cathedral and a concert by the London Gay
Men's Chorus at St. Pancras Parish Church. In
Copenhagen, artist Jens Galschioet put up an eight-foot
sculpture of a crucified pregnant teenager outside
Copenhagen's Lutheran cathedral. He called it a
protest against the idea that "God allows nothing but
chastity and unprotected sex."
City authorities gave the artist permission to
erect the statue, named In the Name of God,
outside the cathedral. Anders Gadegaard, the
cathedral's dean, appeared to welcome the message. "It's a
good supplement to the crucifix we have inside the
church," he said.
Former president Bill Clinton said in an
interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that
India, which has the largest population of
HIV-infected people in the world, has become the new
epicenter of the global AIDS pandemic. The challenge
of controlling the epidemic in India, with 5.7 million
infected, is "breathtaking," he said, but it can be
achieved. "This is not rocket science," Clinton told the
BBC. "We know what to do."
The Clinton Foundation said Thursday it had
struck a deal with two Indian companies to supply 19
antiretroviral drugs for HIV-infected children at
steeply discounted prices. Only one in 10 children who needs
treatment is getting it, Clinton said.
The cheap drugs will be available to 100,000
children in 62 developing countries in Africa, Asia,
Latin American, and the Caribbean by next year. But
the need for additional treatment and prevention programs,
health officials say, is still staggering.
The global pandemic has killed 25 million people
since the first case was reported in 1981, with 40
million currently infected with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS.
Nations across Asia marked the day with events
both serious and lighthearted. In Indonesia,
demonstrators marched through the streets of the
capital with their faces wrapped in white sheets, some
carrying signs that said "No more stigma!" and "Stop HIV/AIDS."
In Thailand, AIDS activists planned to create
the world's "longest condom chain," arranging 25,000
condoms side by side on a ribbon placed on the ground,
stretching through Bangkok's Lumpini Park. Thailand is
considered a leader in the global fight against AIDS, and
has made significant gains in reducing the number of
new infections through the aggressive promotion of
condom use by men who patronize prostitutes.
In China, girls decorated classrooms with red
ribbons, the international symbol for AIDS awareness.
Chinese taxi drivers handed out angel-shaped cards
promoting steps to prevent HIV infections and discrimination
against those already infected.
The Chinese Health Ministry said last week that
the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases rose by almost
30% in the first 10 months of this year, from 144,089
to 183,733. Intravenous-drug use was the biggest source of
infection, the ministry said. Health experts estimate that
the actual number of cases is four or five times
higher than the reported figure.
In Papua New Guinea, the governor-general and
the health minister took HIV blood tests in front of
hundreds of people to encourage voluntary testing.
Governor-general Paulias Matane and Health Minister Peter
Barter attended a rally at the Tabari open-air craft
market in Port Moresby, giving blood samples as
hundreds of spectators applauded. Papua New Guinea has
the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS among Pacific countries,
with around 2% of the population estimated to be HIV-positive.
In the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, about 450
people participated in an event that brought together
about 20 people infected with HIV and hundreds of
those not infected, with the aim of reducing the stigma
attached to the virus. A "condom fashion show" featured
outfits stitched together with condoms.
"We really need something like this so that
people will understand more about the epidemic," said
Nguyen Minh Phuong, 37, who is infected with HIV. "It
allows us to do something useful and help prevent the
disease from spreading."
Public-health authorities in Indian-controlled
Kashmir have found an unexpected ally in their battle
against HIV and AIDS in the deeply conservative
region. The Jammu-Kashmir state AIDS prevention and control
agency has enlisted hundreds of Islamic clerics to carry the
message of safe sexual practices to Muslim believers,
officials said.
Top Muslim cleric Mufti Nazir Ahmed usually
preaches sermons at a mosque in Kashmir that urge
Muslims to avoid promiscuity and homosexuality, widely
believed to be among the major reasons for the spread of
AIDS. "Wherever I deliver a sermon, I talk about AIDS.
Methods to prevent AIDS corresponds exactly with the
teachings of Islam," Ahmed said Friday. "If one
follows the Islamic way, by no means can one contract AIDS."
At least 37 people have died of AIDS in
Jammu-Kashmir in the last decade, while another 931
people have tested positive for HIV or AIDS, he said.
(David McHugh, with Ben Stocking, AP)
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