UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for international action to end Aids by 2020. "Zero new infections, zero stigma and zero Aids-related deaths" should be the new goal for 2020, he said at an UN summit on Aids in New York.

Thirty African presidents and heads of government attended the meeting that marks the 30th anniversary since the discovery of HIV - the virus that leads to Aids. During the meeting African leaders called for greater resources to battle the pandemic across the world.

More than six million people currently get drugs to keep AIDS and HIV at bay. But more than nine million people still do not get treatment and an estimated 1.8 million people a year are still dying from AIDS.

Making progress
African presidents said they were making spectacular progress, with the number of new infections in the continent brought down from 2.2 million a year in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2009. But they added that Africa desperately needs finance for drugs.

Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba said that resources given to Africa "remain insufficient given the size of the HIV/AIDS impact on the continent."

Deaf to disadvantaged
And Lesotho's Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili told the summit: "The international community cannot remain deaf to the silent whispers for help from the disadvantaged countries." 

The summit final statement is to set out the target number of people who will get AIDS drugs. Health groups have joined poorer nations in pressing for rich countries to commit to pay for drugs for all the sufferers that still do not get treatment.

Source: AFP