Conference on AIDS concludes in Dublin

An international conference on the menace of HIV and AIDS ended in Dublin tonight with a declaration of international co-operation to combat the disease.

The move followed two days of intense debate involving delegates from more than 50 European and central Asian countries and high-profile figures including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and rock star Bob Geldof.

The Dublin Declaration set specific targets on HIV/AIDS, and dates for achieving them, through a series of measures aimed at treating and preventing the disease.

The conference was orchestrated by the Dublin government as part of Ireland’s current six-month European presidency.

It acknowledged that HIV and AIDS sufferers had a role in forming “ethical and effective national responses to the epidemic“.

And the agreed statement also urged continuing international investment in medical research and development of vaccines and palliative drugs.

It advocated, as well, the elimination of HIV infection among infants in Europe and Central Asia by 2010, and ensuring that 80% of injecting drug-users get access to treatment and “harm-reduction” services.

Free programmes were recommended as part of a preventative strategy, including the education of at least 90% of young men and women aged between 15 and 24 years.

The declaration expressed “profound concern that in the European and Central Asian region at least 2.1 million people were now living with HIV/Aids“.

Earlier, former Irish President and United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson called on delegates to take a human rights-based approach to tackling the disease.

She criticised attitudes towards the disease, singling out the marginalisation of “at risk” groups, and said that people living with HIV should be involved in policy making.