On the Socioeconomic Impact of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

The UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS met 25–2 7 June 2001 and adopted a Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The Declaration, in 103 paragraphs, sets out a comprehensive response strategy for governments and UN agencies, supports establishment of a global HIV/AIDS and health fund, and calls for an annual progress report to be reviewed by the Assembly. As part of the Special Session, four “round tables” were conducted on substantive topics: prevention and care, human rights, socioeconomic impact, and international funding. Round Table 3, Socioeconomic impact of the epidemic and the strengthening of national capacities to combat HIV/AIDS, was led by the United Nations Development Programme. The background document prepared for it is reproduced in full below. It argues that the brunt of the epidemic's impact on human development has been borne by households, communities, and civil society organizations. The emphasis of national and international action has been on prevention and care rather than on counteracting that impact. “Extraordinary efforts” are now required to intensify poverty‐reduction measures, to assist caregivers and orphaned children, to prevent the collapse of public services, and to promote workplace tolerance and flexibility. “While HIV/AIDS must be seen as an emergency of the highest order, steady progress in reducing poverty is still the long‐term and sustainable solution to the health crisis in the developing world. In the long run, prevention and care will only succeed if people and nations can lift themselves out of poverty.” (The Declaration was not much influenced by such arguments. It devotes two paragraphs to socio‐economic impact, both setting diffuse goals: “By 2003, evaluate the economic and social impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and develop multisectoral strategies on poverty alleviation, etc.]” and “By 2003, develop a national legal and policy framework that protects in the workplace the rights and dignity of persons living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.…”) The Millennium Summit referred to in the document was the meeting on the role of the UN in the twenty‐first century held in September 2000 as part of the 55th session of the General Assembly. The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Round Table 3 document can both be found at http://www.unaids.org/ungass/index.html .