Distinguished Colleagues from Asia and the Pacific Region and all over the world. Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you so much for the invitation to join you today at this important gathering.
I have been WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific for two and half years.
Throughout this time I have promoted close collaboration with UNAIDS and the many partners involved in addressing the HIV epidemic.
I am therefore honoured to be in the presence of so many dedicated and successful AIDS champions.
Under the coordination of UNAIDS secretariat, WHO is actively supporting countries to strengthen their health sector response to HIV.
WHO is working with countries to improve care and treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS and people with HIV/TB co-infection.
In partnership with UNICEF, WHO is also working to reduce parent-to-child transmission of HIV.
Much progress has been made in recent years.
But we are now facing many significant challenges – many of which I am sure you are all acutely aware of.
Antiretroviral treatment coverage rate in our region lags behind all other regions. Only one third of those who need it currently get it.
The reasons for this are complex.
However, that fact that only half of all HIV positive people in our region are aware of their HIV status is a key barrier to improving treatment coverage.
We need more testing and counselling services, more point of care tests and simplified and cheaper treatment regimes.
HIV/TB co-infection is contributing significantly to the increase in multidrug resistance TB.
We must develop closer collaboration between HIV and TB services in countries.
Eliminating parent-to-child transmission should be an achievable goal in this region.
But again, strengthened collaboration between different health services and increased focus on health system strengthening is needed to achieve something that all children deserve ‑ a chance to be born free of HIV.
I look forward to the discussion this morning and how together we can address these and the many other challenges that still face us.