The ASEAN Heads of Government will declare their commitment to working together in combating HIV/AIDS in the region. At a session of the 7th ASEAN Summit to be held in Brunei Darussalam on 5 November 2001, leaders of the ten members countries are scheduled to adopt a declaration and affirm their support for a regional HIV/AIDS four-year (2002-2005) action plan to combat the spread of the disease.
The ASEAN Secretary-General, Mr. Rodolfo C. Severino Jr. said that as AIDS was a transboundary problem then it made sense to deal with it on a regional seal.
“AIDS does not recognize national boundaries”, he said. “If we don’t work in concert in developing policies and taking action we will not succeed in reducing the spread of this disease among ASEAN member countries.”
Mr. Severino said that one example of how member nations would collaborate in combating HIV/AIDS was empowering mobile populations to protect themselves and their families from being infected by HIV.
“Vulnerable populations, such as fishermen, sailors, truck-drivers, and contract labourers, because of their mobility, often lack access to information about HIV/AIDS,” he pointed out.
“These people are often far from families and community social mores, alone and lonely. If the language and culture in the host country are different then they will have difficulty accessing HIV/AIDS information. By working in collaboration we can ensure that these groups do not remain as vulnerable.”
Mr. Severino said proposed activities included pre-departure, post-arrival and returnee re-integration planning and action programs as well as life skills training and counseling care and support for migrant workers.
“Cost-sharing is also another obvious benefit,” he said. “Examples of effective cost-sharing are joint research projects and sharing educational resources under ASEAN’s first work programme on HIV/AIDS (1995-2000), the majority of whose activities were implemented on the basis of cost-sharing.”
Mr. Severino stated that the ASEAN Task Force on AIDS would be implementing the action plan, giving priority to issues for which a regional approach would have added value and help member countries develop and implement policy and share information and other resources. He added that ASEAN Secretariat would be bringing ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners and international agencies to collaborate in implementing activities and prevent duplication of effort.”
For further information contact:
Mr. M.C. Abad, Jr.
Assistant Director
Public Information Unit
ASEAN Secretariat
Jakarta, Indonesia
Telp. No. 62-21-7262991, 724.3372
Fax. No. 62-21-739.8234