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The President of the Republic Address at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in New York on 22 September 200322.09.2003
Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The resolution passed by the twenty-sixth General Assembly Special Session two years ago to follow up annually the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment reflects the topicality of HIV/AIDS in today's world. This indicates also the need to respond together to the changing situation, which was also analysed in the Secretary-General's Progress Report. We can admit today that tremendous work has been done and we can also talk about some success in combating HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the number of infected people and victims is so high in many parts of the world that the word "progress" in the overall context of HIV/AIDS is a bit too much.
Both from the UN rostrum and in other international fora the need has been emphasised to raise the political significance of the HIV/AIDS problem and to draft an aggressive strategy to fight the disease.
I can assure you that during the period following the General Assembly Special Session the awareness about the severity of the problem in our state, our region and entire world has become more pronounced.
The people of the world understand more and more that this is neither the problem of only the infected and of their families nor of single states. This is a problem we should tackle all together and on a global scale.
Combating HIV/AIDS the prevention, treatment, care and support are intertwined activities to resort to in devising comprehensive national strategies. Prevention plays here a special role.
Mr Chairman,
The spread of HIV/AIDS is a serious problem for Estonia as well. The specificity of Estonia is that the epidemic is concentrated and 70-per-cent of infected are young people of 15-24 years old. The first outbreak of the epidemic spread from intravenous drug users but we see that it is sexually transmitted to outside of the risk group as well. Therefore we lay a special stress on our work with the young and also on prevention campaigns. Through sexual and health education we can disseminate diversified information on the threat of HIV infection and on irreversible consequences.
We have been engaged in HIV prevention for about fifteen years in Estonia. We have launched the third National HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme for 2002-2006. Apart from the public sector, also non-profit and private sectors as well as local authorities should be involved in the prevention. I would like to single out the role of schools and youth organisations. Prevention in institutions of detention is also important.
Estonia is aware of the need to allocate more resources for the implementation of anti-AIDS programmes.
Estonia has a national network of specialists from different levels. However, tremendous efforts are necessary to commit the society to avoid from infection with AIDS.
One of the main risk groups in Estonia are drug addicts. Therefore I would like to stress that we should fight HIV/AIDS together with drug prevention. However, more aggressive international actions, especially against drug trafficking and human trafficking are necessary.
We are very grateful for the assistance we have received from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This support helps to deepen international cooperation in fighting HIV/AIDS and expands the number of partners for us.
Mr Chairman,
Estonia would like to confirm its commitment to cooperate in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Holding the Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) Estonia lays great stress on cooperation projects between states. The CBSS prime ministers established a special Task Force on Communicable Disease Control in the region in 2000. The Task Force focuses on cooperation to prevent HIV/AIDS.
I would also like to emphasise that Estonia shares the goals set by the European Union and is increasingly involved in various programmes. We also recognise the serous commitment of the World Bank as regards combating HIV/AIDS.
Despite the grim outlook vis-ą-vis one of the Millennium goals, I would like to conclude on an optimistic note. I do hope that next year we could talk about progress both in enhanced efforts and outcome.
Thank you for your attention.
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