Banjul — The Gambia will on December 1st join the rest of the world to celebrate World AIDS Day.

The theme for this yearÂ's commemoration is Â"Universal access and human rightsÂ". According to the press release sent to the Daily Observer, Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said on this World AIDS Day they will be filled with both hope and concern, noting that hope because significant progress has been made towards universal access and that HIV infections have dropped. According to her, fewer children are born and more than 4 million people are on treatment.

The concern on the hand, she noted is because 28 years into the epidemic the virus continues to make inroads into new populations; stigma and discrimination continue to undermine efforts to turn back the epidemic. Executive Director Sidibe further revealed that the violation of human rights of people living with HIV, women and girls, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers must end. She said that the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called on Â"all countries to live to their commitments to enact or enforce legislation outlawing discrimination against people with HIV and members of vulnerable groupsÂ". She noted that on this World AIDS Day, people should work urgently to remove punitive laws and practices and put an end to discrimination against and criminalization of people affected by HIV.

According to her, on the World AIDS Day there should also be a demonstrable action on HIV prevention, as, she added, every two people put on treatment, five are newly infected. Â"Too often prevention programmes are not reaching those most in need,Â" she said. Michel Sidibe noted that there is need to stop violence against women and girls and to protect drug users from becoming infected with HIV and also to reduce sexual transmission of HIV. She mentioned that the gains made today are fragile and must be sustained.

The economic crisis, she pointed out, should not be a reason for reducing investments in health while noting that the economic adjustments must be made through a human rights lens that keeps the focus on those most vulnerable. According to her, this is the time to increase rather than decrease funding for AIDS. AIDS, she said provides a powerful mechanism for creating integrated health, human rights and development programmes. Â"We must take AIDS out of isolation and create a broad social movement that will accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals,Â" she said, adding that World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us Â- individuals, communities and political leaders Â- to take action towards making universal access a reality.