UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

UNAIDS The First 10 Years106done is the Security Council. That’s where decisions are made, that’s where attention isfocused’ 3 . So he, his staff and UNAIDS Secretariat staff worked very hard between Christmasand New Year – writing background documents for the meeting, Piot recalls, ”...but we tookeverybody by surprise”. Holbrooke did all the political work, including involving Gore, andUNAIDS provided the background, arguments and evidence.AIDS debated at the United Nations Security CouncilFormer UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Security Council that the impact of AIDSin Africa was no less destructive than that of warfare itself. By overwhelming the continent’shealth services, by creating millions of orphans, and by decimating the numbers of healthworkers and teachers, AIDS was causing socioeconomic crises which in turn threatenedpolitical stability. Later that year, another session of the Security Council would lead to workon preventing HIV among peacekeepers and uniformed services.Here with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,Al Gore, Vice Presidentof the USA, chaired thefi rst debate on AIDS as amajor security issue at theUN Security Council inJanuary 2000.UN PhotoThe Security Council debate brought AIDS to the forefront of the global political agenda.According to Piot 4 : “It opened so many doors, top leaders told me, it was debated in theSecurity Council, it must be a serious problem. Ridiculous, but I got that sort of response”. Themomentum would now build. As Jim Sherry, then Director of the Programme Developmentand Coordination Group, said, “the fuse was lit”.3Behrman G (2004). The Invisible People. New York, Free Press.4Interview with Peter Piot for Frontline: the Age of AIDS, PBS TV, 2007.