World leaders are meeting Wednesday in New York for the first day of a United Nations AIDS conference aimed at charting the path of the global response to the epidemic.
The U.N. says member states are expected to adopt a new declaration outlining their commitments.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the General Assembly's high-level meeting on AIDS comes at a “pivotal moment” in the 30-year history of the epidemic. He called on the international community to unite for universal access to treatment.
On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution underlining the need for continued international action to halt the impact of AIDS and HIV– the virus that causes the disease — in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Tuesday's discussion focused on how U.N. peacekeeping missions can be important players in an integrated response to combat and prevent the spread of AIDS.
The disease has killed nearly 30 million people since it was first reported three decades ago.
UNAIDS estimates 34 million people are living with the virus worldwide — 22.5 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. It says in nearly all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of people living with HIV are women, especially girls and women aged 15 to 24.
The U.N. says 10 million people around the world are still waiting for treatment.
The 15-member Security Council took up the AIDS issue only once before, in 2000, when it adopted a resolution that recognized the potential of the epidemic to pose a risk to stability and security if left unchecked.
