IPU working on the HIV/AIDS pandemic

HIV/AIDS has already claimed more than 25 million lives. Progress in halting the disease is falling far short of targets. World leaders have promised to provide universal access to treatment, care, support and prevention services by 2010, but the promises are not being kept because there is a lack of leadership at every level. The IPU Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS was set up in 2006 in order to enlist the full force of the world's legislatures in the fight against the AIDS pandemic, in which parliaments are crucial stakeholders. Keen to expand the scope of its work to parliaments worldwide, the Group will be organizing the first Global Parliamentary Meeting on HIV/AIDS, to be held in Manila, Philippines, from 28 to 30 November 2007. Although there have been a number of national and regional parliamentary initiatives in this area, never before have the world's parliaments been convened to jointly discuss the part they have to play in responding to the crisis. The aim of the meeting is thus to bring the work on HIV/AIDS across to the full IPU membership and engage the entire parliamentary community.

The Manila event will take as its leitmotif the question of leadership. This is the theme for World AIDS Day on 1 December, immediately after the meeting closes. It will also be looking at universal access and the thorny question of the affordability of drugs. This issue arose from the first field visit made by the Advisory Group to Brazil in June 2007. On the visit the Group met with a broad spectrum of people involved in the national programme, including the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Minister of Health, representatives of UN organizations and NGOs, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The Brazilian government has taken a pioneering stand in negotiations with pharmaceuticals manufacturers, and the Global Meeting will discuss an IPU position paper designed to help parliaments called upon to legislate in this difficult area.

Part of the Group's work involves designing information and training materials for members of the world's legislatures. The Manila Meeting will see the launch and discussion of a new guide for parliamentarians that provides detailed information on various issues that parliaments have to face in this field and proposes some good practices. The programme of field visits responds to a growing interest in taking IPU activities out of the conference room and into closer contact with the people influencing the shaping of policy on major international problems. The next field visit is planned to be to the Russian Federation, a country that that is grappling with a devastating AIDS epidemic.