Abstract

PIP: In his talk, Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS team leader Dr. Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn made a plea for the careful monitoring of human rights with respect to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since the start of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a total of 47 million people have been infected with HIV, 14 million have died of AIDS, with 33 million afflicted with the virus by the end of 1998. In the wake of this global crisis comes the widespread abuse of human rights and fundamental freedoms worldwide. Many HIV/AIDS patients suffer from discrimination, intolerance, and prejudice. Hence, protection of human rights is crucial to safeguard human dignity in the context of HIV/AIDS, and to warrant an effective public health and social responses to this epidemic. All states, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, have the obligation to promote and protect universal human rights standards and fundamental freedoms of all peoples.