Prevention is for Life: Action Required to Halt AIDS

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Countries need to make universal access to sexual and reproductive health, HIV prevention, treatment, care and support a top priority says Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Speaking at the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (8th ICAAP) in Colombo, Ms Mane pointed to the inextricable connection between HIV prevention and treatment and emphasized that, “the greatest impact can be achieved when we link prevention with treatment and care.”

According to Ms. Mane, HIV prevention efforts will be far more effective if linked with sexual and reproductive health. She noted three critical areas that provide opportunities to make the link. Among them:  

• Providing primary HIV prevention, family planning and lifelong treatment for the mother, her partner and children undertaken alongside prevention of mother-to-child transmission programming;
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• Ensuring that information and services reach youth—thus reducing the vulnerability of youth to HIV vulnerability as a result of early marriage and gender-based violence;
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• Normalizing condom use within sexual relationships; as well as addressing the sexual and reproductive health of people living with HIV;
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• Eliminating human rights violations.
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“We know what it takes to break the silence about HIV,” said Ms. Mane. “Going beyond the silence into action is the only way we can face the future generations knowing that we are doing our best to ensure an AIDS-free generation. Let us never forget that prevention is for life.”

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UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Contact Information:

Peter Chen
Tel.: + 94-77-3957208
Email: chen@unfpa.org