Leaders pledge to stop HIV scourge

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to "recommit" US efforts against the deadly disease through a national strategy of education, prevention, treatment and "a strong health care system."

Obama extolled progress made since international health authorities began observing World Aids Day 20 years ago, when "widespread ignorance and fear" hampered efforts to educate people about AIDS' devastating impact on families
and communities.

Thanks to the work of official, non-official and faith-based institutions,he said, "women in Kenya who were widowed by the disease and once shunned by society, have banded together to support and empower each other.

"Scientists around the world are discovering and engineering new medicines to give people with HIV/AIDS another chance at life ... And world governments are coming together to address the humanitarian crisis the pandemic has left in its wake.

Speaking before the Saddleback Church Civil Forum on AIDS, Obama thanked outgoing US President George W. Bush "for his leadership in crafting a plan for AIDS relief in Africa" and providing funding to prevent the spread of the
disease.

Bush on Monday announced that his President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief had already met its goal of helping to treat two million people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2008.

In South Africa, the country with the highest number of sufferers in the world, the government was mapping out its AIDS strategy under a new health minister as part of a sea-change in attitudes.

South Africans held a moment of silence at midday as a mark of respect for victims of the virus which has affected some 5.5 million people.

Celebrities also used their media-drawing power to raise AIDS awareness with France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy announcing that she had accepted a new mission as ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.

Through field trips, advocacy and by mobilising other celebrities to add their voice to the struggle against AIDS, Bruni-Sarkozy hopes to bring renewed focus to a cause that appears to be suffering from donor fatigue.

In Beijing, Hu's visit to a hospital was also designed to strip away some of the stigma attached to the virus and the Chinese leader praised volunteers as an "indispensable force" in the battle against the disease.

"One of the important tasks of volunteers is to spread knowledge about AIDS prevention so that every citizen can have that knowledge," Hu said in a state television report.

"This way, all of society can work together to prevent AIDS."

China along with the United Nations launched a campaign Sunday to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. The world's most populous country has about 700,000 people who are HIV-positive, according to a previously released estimate by the
Chinese government and UN health organisations.

However, only about 260,000 have been officially identified as having AIDS.

Other countries also released their AIDS statistics, including Iran which estimated that the Islamic republic has 80,000 HIV cases, four times more than the number of people registered, the state news agency IRNA reported.

In Burma, UNICEF said there are approximately 240,000 people living with HIV, of which almost two thirds are under the age of 24.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown noted that while significant progress has been made in fighting the spread of AIDS, the impact of the disease "remains immense," especially in the poorest corners of the globe.

African nations have expressed concern that the world's richest countries grappling with the global economic crisis may cut back on AIDS funding.

But Brown urged world leaders "to hold firm to their promises to improve the health of the poorest, even in the midst of the current economic challenge."