Statement by New Democrat leader Jack Layton on World AIDS Day

The good news on this World AIDS Day 2009 is that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS appears to be stabilising. The bad news is that number is a staggering 33.4 million people worldwide. That’s one in every 200 people.

Even as access to better treatments improves and rates of incidence drop in the developed world, the vast majority of those living with HIV/AIDS continue to be in developing nations and lack access to basic care. It is fitting, then, that the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is Universal Access and Human Rights.

People living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world need better access to better care. They need an end to discrimination, especially by their own governments, and improved education on preventing transfer of the virus.

While countless organisations, communities, families and individuals work tirelessly to broaden access and strengthen human rights, countries like Canada can do more. Our affluence gives us a responsibility to act. On this World AIDS Day, on behalf of New Democrats, I call on the Government of Canada to uphold its obligation to protect and promote human rights and redouble its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.