By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council November 17 reviewed efforts being made to ensure that U.N. peacekeepers and civilian police are vigilant in working to stop the pandemic of HIV/AIDS as required by Security Council resolution 1308, adopted in 2000.

The heads of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations discussed with the council the progress in implementing the resolution to provide training to peacekeeping personnel on preventing the spread of the disease. Although HIV/AIDS is an incurable illness, it is also entirely preventable and by effectively implementing resolution 1308, transmission among peacekeepers, national uniformed services and the communities they serve in can be prevented, Security Council members say.

"HIV represents a challenge to every one of the 42,000 soldiers and police officers under U.N. command," said Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS. "Many are serving in high-prevalence regions -- a third are in Africa -- and all face the strain of separation from families and stressful working conditions. Unless the HIV challenge is met, the sustainability of these operations and their invaluable contribution to global security will be under threat."

"We want to ensure that peacekeepers and all uniformed personnel are leaders in the fight against AIDS, not its victims. And by acting simultaneously on prevention, care, and impact mitigation, we can stop the epidemic's corrosive impact on security," Dr. Piot said.

During the United States presidency of the Security Council in January 2000, AIDS was first placed on the agenda of the council. With the adoption of resolution 1308 in July of the same year, the Security Council broke new ground and reshaped the global fight against AIDS by focusing on the disease in conflicts.

"In the end, members of the council reached agreement that it merited the attention of the council because HIV/AIDS threatens to kill more people and undermine more societies than any specific conflict we deal with in the Security Council," U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said. "Moreover, because AIDS strikes the young -- young soldiers, young parents, young doctors, young government workers, young teachers -- it threatens the futures of many countries," Cunningham said.

The United States is totally committed to the global fight against HIV/AIDS, the ambassador said. "The United States is the largest donor of HIV/AIDS assistance, providing almost half of all international HIV/AIDS funding in 2002."

The U.S. has bilateral programs in more than 75 countries and is also the single largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with pledges totaling $1,600 million, Cunningham said.

In January President Bush announced a $15,000 million, five-year emergency plan for HIV/AIDS relief which he signed into law with overwhelming congressional support in May 2003.

"This represents the largest single commitment of funds in history for an international public health initiative on specific diseases," Cunningham pointed out. "The plan continues our broad bilateral programs while focusing on fourteen of the most affected countries in Africa and the Caribbean."

As part of the International Partnership Against HIV/AIDS in Africa, the U.S. Department of Defense has been working with African militaries to help create policies dealing with HIV/AIDS within a military setting. The strategy is to develop prevention education programs that reach both African troops and African communities in order to reduce the spread of HIV. Recent legislation expanded the program to include global HIV/AIDS prevention among other militaries, Cunningham said.

Through this program, the ambassador explained, the U.S. Department of Defense has helped other militaries establish HIV/AIDS policies for their personnel; adapt and provide HIV prevention programs; train military personnel to implement, maintain and evaluate HIV prevention programs; and assist countries to develop effective interventions into military culture to reduce high-risk HIV attitudes and behaviors.

The United States also funded production of a U.N. training booklet on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention used by peacekeeping forces.

The U.S. military has its own policy of mandatory testing, Cunningham said. During each calendar year, commands are required to conduct a certain amount of mandatory HIV/AIDS prevention training, emphasizing avoidance of high-risk behavior. Initial training for military personnel on this issue is documented in their service records.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said that a lot remains to be done in the global fight against AIDS, including reducing the cost of medication, increasing contributions to the Global Fund, and providing more leadership at both national and local levels.

"We should not overlook the fact that this is a major global epidemic, and I don't think we are doing enough," Annan told journalists as he arrived at U.N. headquarters November 17. "In terms of resources, by the year 2005 we will need about $10,000 million a year and the Global Aids Fund itself is running out of money."

"We need a rapid injection of additional resources because most the resources have been committed -- we have made grants to about 93 countries," he said.

The secretary general said he hopes contributions to the fund will reach about $3,000 million a year -- $1,000 million from the United States, $1,000 million from the European Union and the remainder from other sources.

Annan also said that more leaders must speak out against the stigma and discrimination of AIDS. "We need to see leadership at all levels from the president down to community leaders," he said.

Despite global resolve to fight HIV/AIDS with increasing funds and education programs, the numbers infected and affected rise steadily. According to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 5 million new HIV infections occurred in 2002 bringing to 42 million the number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS. A new global census on HIV/AIDS will be issued later this month in connection with recognition of World AIDS Day December 1.

Countries hosting peacekeeping missions are increasingly calling for the mandatory testing of peacekeeping troops, but Dr. Piot said that voluntary HIV testing should be a normal part of all defense force operations.

Defense ministers worldwide ought to have AIDS on their radar screens. Nations cannot rely on HIV awareness only in the context of peacekeeping operations, the UNAIDS director said. All uniformed services, should be able to participate in ongoing HIV programs.

At least 38 countries have a national strategy addressing AIDS in uniformed services, Dr. Piot said.

Part of UNAIDS action is directed at regions where the epidemic is newly emerging, places such as Eastern Europe and Asia, where prompt action might work to better contain wider spread, Dr. Piot said. "We also need to attend to those states where AIDS has so eroded national capacity that massive and coordinated delivery of emergency development is needed to stave off state collapse," he said.

Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno said that one of the United Nations' major achievements has been placing HIV/AIDS policy advisors at U.N. headquarters and in peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Timor-Leste, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Sierra Leone. Another advisor is being sent to Liberia.