HIV/AIDS Language from Treaties and International Consensus Documents

1. Goal ICPD +5 paragraph 70

ICPD +5 para 70
Governments, with assistance from UNAIDS and donors, should, by 2005, ensure that at least 90 per cent, and by 2010 at least 95 per cent, of young men and women aged 15 to 24 have access to the information, education and services necessary to develop the life skills required to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection. Services should include access to preventive methods such as female and male condoms, voluntary testing, counselling and follow-up. Governments should use, as a benchmark indicator, HIV infection rates in persons 15 to 24 years of age, with the goal of ensuring that by 2005 prevalence in this age group is reduced globally, and by 25 per cent in the most affected countries, and that by 2010 prevalence in this age group is reduced globally by 25 per cent.

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2. HIV/AIDS in context to RH and other programmes including humanitarian assistance

ICPD+5 para 67
Governments, from the highest political levels, should take urgent action to provide education and services to prevent the transmission of all forms of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and, with the assistance, where appropriate, of UNAIDS, develop and implement national HIV/AIDS policies and action plans, ensure and promote respect for the human rights and dignity of persons living with HIV/AIDS, improve care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS, including support services for home-based care, and take steps to mitigate the impact of the AIDS epidemic by mobilizing all sectors and segments of society to address the social and economic factors contributing to HIV risk and vulnerability. Governments should enact legislation and adopt measures to ensure non-discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and vulnerable populations, including women and young people, so that they are not denied the information needed to prevent further transmission and are able to access treatment and care services without fear of stigmatization, discrimination or violence.

ICPD +5 para 68
Governments should ensure that prevention of and services for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS are an integral component of reproductive and sexual health programmes at the primary health-care level. Gender, age-based and other differences in vulnerability to HIV infection should be addressed in prevention and education programmes and services. Governments should develop guidelines for HIV treatment and care, emphasizing equitable access, and for wide provision of and access to voluntary HIV testing and counselling services, and should ensure wide provision of and access to female and male condoms, including through social marketing. Advocacy and information, education and communication campaigns developed with communities and supported from the highest levels of Government should promote informed, responsible and safer sexual behaviour and practices, mutual respect and gender equity in sexual relationships. Special attention needs to be given to preventing sexual exploitation of young women and children. Given the enhanced susceptibility to HIV/AIDS of individuals infected by conventional and treatable sexually transmitted diseases and the high prevalence of such diseases among young people, priority must be given to the prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of such infections. Governments should immediately develop, in full partnership with youth, parents, families, educators and health-care providers, youth-specific HIV education and treatment projects, with special emphasis on developing peer-education programmes.

ICPD POA para 7.31
All health-care providers, including all family-planning providers, should be given specialized training in the prevention and detection of, and counselling on, sexually transmitted diseases, especially infections in women and youth, including HIV/AIDS.

ICPD POA para 8.31
Programmes to reduce the spread of HIV infection should give high priority to information, education and communication campaigns to raise awareness and emphasize behavioural change. Sex education and information should be provided to both those infected and those not infected, and especially to adolescents. Health providers, including family-planning providers, need training in counselling on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection, including the assessment and identification of high-risk behaviours needing special attention and services; training in the promotion of safe and responsible sexual behaviour, including voluntary abstinence, and condom use; training in the avoidance of contaminated equipment and blood products; and in the avoidance of sharing needles among injecting drug users. Governments should develop guidelines and counselling services on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases within the primary health-care services. Wherever possible, reproductive health programmes, including family-planning programmes, should include facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of common sexually transmitted diseases, including reproductive tract infection, recognizing that many sexually transmitted diseases increase the risk of HIV transmission. The links between the prevention of HIV infection and the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis should be assured.

Beijing +5 para 98 (d)
Encourage, through the media and other means, a high awareness of the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women, some of which increase their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, and intensify efforts to eliminate such practices;

Beijing PFA para 108 (g)
Support and strengthen national capacity to create and improve gender-sensitive policies and programmes on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, including the provision of resources and facilities to women who find themselves the principal caregivers or economic support for those infected with HIV/AIDS or affected by the pandemic, and the survivors, particularly children and older persons;

Millennium declaration para 19
We resolve further …..To have, by then, halted,, and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases that afflict humanity.

Millennium declaration para 19
We resolve therefore: ….To help Africa build up its capacity to tackle the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases.

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3. Prevention of HIV Infection, in particular for Vulnerable Population (e.g. Youth, Woman, and Orphans)

ICPD POA para 7.23 (b)
Provide accessible, complete and accurate information about various family-planning methods, including their health risks and benefits, possible side effects and their effectiveness in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases;

ICPD POA para 7.32
Information, education and counselling for responsible sexual behaviour and effective prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, should become integral components of all reproductive and sexual health services.

ICPD POA para 7.33
Promotion and the reliable supply and distribution of high-quality condoms should become integral components of all reproductive health-care services. All relevant international organizations, especially the World Health Organization, should significantly increase their procurement. Governments and the international community should provide all means to reduce the spread and the rate of transmission of HIV/AIDS infection.

ICPD POA para 8.35
Responsible sexual behaviour, including voluntary sexual abstinence, for the prevention of HIV infection should be promoted and included in education and information programmes. Condoms and drugs for the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases should be made widely available and affordable and should be included in all essential drug lists. Effective action should be taken to further control the quality of blood products and equipment decontamination.

Beijing PFA para 108 (m)
Ensure the provision, through the primary health-care system, of universal access of couples and individuals to appropriate and affordable preventive services with respect to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and expand the provision of counselling and voluntary and confidential diagnostic and treatment services for women; ensure that high-quality condoms as well as drugs for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases are, where possible, supplied and distributed to health services;

ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTH

ICPD +5 para 73(e)
With due respect for the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents and in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the adolescent, and their right to reproductive health education, information and care, and respecting their cultural values and religious beliefs, ensure that adolescents, both in and out of school, receive the necessary information, including information on prevention, education, counselling and health services to enable them to make responsible and informed choices and decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health needs, in order to, inter alia, reduce the number of adolescent pregnancies. Sexually active adolescents will require special family planning information, counselling and health services, as well as sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Those adolescents who become pregnant are at particular risk and will require special support from their families, health-care providers and the community during pregnancy, delivery and early childcare. This support should enable these adolescents to continue their education. Programmes should involve and train all who are in a position to provide guidance to adolescents concerning responsible sexual and reproductive behaviour, particularly parents and families, and also communities, religious institutions, schools, the mass media and peer groups. These policies and programmes must be implemented on the basis of commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development and in conformity with relevant existing international agreements and conventions;

Beijing PFA para 107 (g)
Recognize the specific needs of adolescents and implement specific appropriate programmes, such as education and information on sexual and reproductive health issues and on sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, taking into account the rights of the child and the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents as stated in paragraph 107 (e) above;

WOMEN

Beijing PFA para 108 (f)
Facilitate the development of community strategies that will protect women of all ages from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; provide care and support to infected girls, women and their families and mobilize all parts of the community in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to exert pressure on all responsible authorities to respond in a timely, effective, sustainable and gender-sensitive manner;

ICPD +5 para 69
While one of the most important interventions to reduce HIV infections in infants is primary prevention of infection, Governments should also scale up, where appropriate, education and treatment projects aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Anti-retroviral drugs, where feasible, should be made available to women living with HIV/AIDS during and after pregnancy as part of their ongoing treatment of HIV/AIDS and provide infant-feeding counselling for mothers living with HIV/ AIDS so that they can make free and informed decisions.

Beijing +5 para 103 (b)
As a matter of priority, especially in those countries most affected, and in partnership with non-governmental organizations, wherever possible, intensify education, services and community-based mobilization strategies to protect women of all ages from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, including through the development of safe, affordable, effective and easily accessible female-controlled methods, including such methods as microbicides and female condoms that protect against sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS; voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counselling; the promotion of responsible sexual behaviour, including abstinence and condom use; and the development of vaccines, simple low-cost diagnosis and single dose treatments for sexually transmitted infections;

ORPHANS

Millennium declaration para 19
We resolve further ..To provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

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4. Towards Ensuring Supportive Environment for Prevention, Care and Support

ICPD POA para 8.7
Governments should ensure community participation in health policy planning, especially with respect to the long-term care of the elderly, those with disabilities and those infected with HIV and other endemic diseases. Such participation should also be promoted in child-survival and maternal health programmes, breast-feeding support programmes, programmes for the early detection and treatment of cancer of the reproductive system, and programmes for the prevention of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.

ICPD POA para 8.32
Governments should mobilize all segments of society to control the AIDS pandemic, including non-governmental organizations, community organizations, religious leaders, the private sector, the media, schools and health facilities. Mobilization at the family and community levels should be given priority. Communities need to develop strategies that respond to local perceptions of the priority accorded to health issues associated with the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

YOUTH

ICPD POA para 6.15
Youth should be actively involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of development activities that have a direct impact on their daily lives. This is especially important with respect to information, education and communication activities and services concerning reproductive and sexual health, including the prevention of early pregnancies, sex education and the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Access to, as well as confidentiality and privacy of, these services must be ensured with the support and guidance of their parents and in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, there is a need for educational programmes in favour of life planning skills, healthy lifestyles and the active discouragement of substance abuse.

Beijing+5 para 79 (f)
Design and implement programmes with the full involvement of adolescents, as appropriate, to provide them with education, information and appropriate, specific, user-friendly and accessible services, without discrimination, to address effectively their reproductive and sexual health needs, taking into account their right to privacy, confidentiality, respect and informed consent, and the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents and legal guardians to provide in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 15 in conformity with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and ensuring that in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child are a primary consideration. These programmes should, inter alia, build adolescent girls' self-esteem and help them take responsibility for their own lives; promote gender equality and responsible sexual behaviour; raise awareness about, prevent and treat sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS and sexual violence and abuse; and counsel adolescents on avoiding unwanted and early pregnancies;

PWA

Beijing PFA para 108 (a)
Ensure the involvement of women, especially those infected with HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases or affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in all decision-making relating to the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases;

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5. Ensuring Provision of Care and Support

ICPD POA para 5.11
Governments should support and develop the appropriate mechanisms to assist families caring for children, the dependent elderly and family members with disabilities, including those resulting from HIV/AIDS, encourage the sharing of those responsibilities by men and women, and support the viability of multigenerational families.

ICPD POA para 8.34
Governments should develop policies and guidelines to protect the individual rights of and eliminate discrimination against persons infected with HIV and their families. Services to detect HIV infection should be strengthened, making sure that they ensure confidentiality. Special programmes should be devised to provide care and the necessary emotional support to men and women affected by AIDS and to counsel their families and near relations.

Beijing +5 para 72 (n)
Adopt measures to ensure non-discrimination against and respect for the privacy of those living with HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, including women and young people, so that they are not denied the information needed to prevent further transmission of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and are able to access treatment and care services without fear of stigmatization, discrimination or violence;

Beijing +5 para 103 (c)
Provide access to adequate and affordable treatment, monitoring and care for all people, especially women and girls, infected with sexually transmitted diseases or living with life-threatening diseases, including HIV/AIDS and associated opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis. Provide other services, including adequate housing and social protection, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding; assist boys and girls orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and provide gender-sensitive support systems for women and other family members who are involved in caring for persons affected by serious health conditions, including HIV/AIDS.

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6. Assessment of impact

ICPD POA para 8.30
Governments should assess the demographic and development impact of HIV infection and AIDS. The AIDS pandemic should be controlled through a multisectoral approach that pays sufficient attention to its socio-economic ramifications, including the heavy burden on health infrastructure and household income, its negative impact on the labour force and productivity, and the increasing number of orphaned children. Multisectoral national plans and strategies to deal with AIDS should be integrated into population and development strategies. The socio-economic factors underlying the spread of HIV infection should be investigated, and programmes to address the problems faced by those left orphaned by the AIDS pandemic should be developed.

ICPD +5 para 53
Governments, with assistance from the international community, should develop and use indicators that measure access to and choice of family-planning and contraceptive methods and indicators that measure trends in maternal mortality and morbidity and HIV/AIDS and use them to monitor progress towards the Conference's goal of universal access to reproductive health care. Governments should strive to ensure that by 2015 all primary health-care and family planning facilities are able to provide, directly or through referral, the widest achievable range of safe and effective family planning and contraceptive methods; essential obstetric care; prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, including sexually transmitted diseases, and barrier methods (such as male and female condoms and microbicides if available) to prevent infection. By 2005, 60 per cent of such facilities should be able to offer this range of services, and by 2010, 80 per cent of them should be able to offer such services.

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7. Research and Development

ICPD +5 para 71
The private and public sectors should increase investments in research on the development of microbicides and other female-controlled methods, simpler and less expensive diagnostic tests, single-dose treatments for sexually transmitted diseases and vaccines. Governments, in particular of developing countries, with the support of the international community, should strengthen measures to generally improve the quality, availability and affordability of care of people living with HIV/AIDS.

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8. Resource Mobilization

ICPD POA para 8.33
The international community should mobilize the human and financial resources required to reduce the rate of transmission of HIV infection. To that end, research on a broad range of approaches to prevent HIV transmission and to seek a cure for the disease should be promoted and supported by all countries. In particular, donor and research communities should support and strengthen current efforts to find a vaccine and to develop women-controlled methods, such as vaginal microbicides, to prevent HIV infection. Increased support is also needed for the treatment and care of HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients. The coordination of activities to combat the AIDS pandemic must be enhanced. Particular attention should be given to activities of the United Nations system at the national level, where measures such as joint programmes can improve coordination and ensure a more efficient use of scarce resources. The international community should also mobilize its efforts in monitoring and evaluating the results of various efforts to search for new strategies.

ICPD +5 para 72
In accordance with its mandate, the Joint and Co-sponsored United Nations Programme on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome should be provided with financial resources in order to do the utmost to ensure a well-coordinated response from the United Nations system to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to provide support to national programmes, particularly in developing countries.

ICPD +5 para 97
Since the HIV/AIDS pandemic is having a more severe impact than was originally projected, special attention should be given to providing promptly the necessary resources as has been called for in the Programme of Action for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Particular attention should be given to vulnerable populations, especially children and young people. All countries affected by the pandemic must continue to make efforts to mobilize domestic resources from all sources in order to combat it. The international community is called upon to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition in their efforts. Additionally, Governments and the donor community should intensify efforts to provide resources for care and support of those affected by HIV/AIDS and for specialized prevention needs.

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