Joint Statement of the Inaugural Meeting of the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum (APLF) Steering Committee

13 October 2003

We, the members of the Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development are gravely concerned by the rapid spread of AIDS throughout the region. No nation in the region is immune. We believe that the key to stemming the tide of AIDS in Asia and the Pacific is strong and committed leadership.

This leadership must be broad and far reaching. It includes Heads of State and Government, high-level civil servants, local authorities, civil society leaders and the private sector. In each country the contributions of individual leaders will differ and there is no single model for successful leadership against AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is the greatest leadership challenge of our time. Evidence in the Asia Pacific region suggests key areas for intensified leadership. We request all leaders in Asia and the Pacific to:

• Break the silence around AIDS by speaking out clearly, with courage and conviction, about the issues driving the epidemic in their countries;
• Promote national responses that involve all sectors and a wide range of civil society organizations, to ensure a comprehensive, full scale effort to stem the epidemic;
• Eliminate stigma and discrimination that surround the epidemic, which both worsen its impact on people living with HIV/AIDS and undermine prevention efforts;
• Promote the inextricable links among prevention, care and treatment initiatives, ensuring that prevention remains paramount even as access to care and treatment expand
• Recognize the disproportionate impact of AIDS on young people and women and develop responses that respond to their urgent and specific needs; and
• Avoid all forms of complacency in the face of AIDS.

We further invite Heads of State and Government to establish, personally chair and adequately resource national AIDS Commissions that reflect these principles. In every country where this has happened the response to AIDS has been significantly strengthened as a result.

The Asia and Pacific Leadership Forum (APLF) aims to strengthen and expand leadership against AIDS. It seeks to inform leaders from all walks of life, reinforce their skills and commitment, celebrate their successes and highlight continuing challenges.

The APLF is a call to action – on an unprecedented scale, that reaches the farthest corners and the most vulnerable groups of our region. We know that such action works and can fundamentally shift the course of AIDS in our countries. Addressing the epidemic today will save scarce human and financial resources; a focus on prevention now will reduce costs of treatment in years to come.

It is with this sense of urgency that we, as members of the Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum, urge the leaders of the Asia Pacific region to engage personally, to speak out and to unite in the struggle against AIDS.

AIDS is a problem with a solution and the time for action is now.