Regional HIV/AIDS Conference held in Moscow, ILO stressed the role of workplace policy.

"We consider this conference as the start of a regional dialogue on addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has become a very serious problem in our countries", said Mikhail Zurabov, Minister of Health and Social Development from Russia. According to Zurabov, the year 2005 marked a turning point in the formulation of a national policy on HIV/AIDS. He referred to the latest initiatives by President Putin, the State Council and the Russian Parliament, a series of new projects and programmes and the cooperation with the international community, including UN agencies.

While welcoming increased funding, political commitment, enhancement of multisectoral interaction and country level cooperation in the region, the delegates expressed their deep concert with the continuing escalation of the HIV and AIDS situation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In many parts of the world HIV prevention works", Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director said. "However it is not seen in this region yet. Indeed the situation continues to worsen in many countries here". According to ILO estimates, there were 1.6 million HIV-infected people at the end of 2005 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Within a span of ten years, their number have increased almost 20 times. Eighty per cent of HIV infections in the .region concern economically active workers.

Another alarming trend is increasing number of new HIV cases among women and the number of children at risk of HIV infection through vertical transmission. According to the Chief Sanitary Doctor of Russia, Gennady Onishchenko, in some regions of the Russian Federation women represent from 30 to 50 "per cent of infected persons.

The ILO played an active role in the conference. It hosted a satellite meeting with the theme "HIV/AIDS and the World of Work: Partnerships with the private sector & NGOs", and a skills building workshop on "Combating HIV/AIDS in the World of Work". The workshop was aimed to promote a workplace policy based on the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and world of work to ensure a consistent and equitable approach to the prevention of HIV/AIDS among workers and their families, and to the management of the consequences of HIV/AIDS, including care and support for workers living with HIV/AIDS.

The ILO delegation at the conference was headed by Dr. Sophia Kisting, Director of the ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. Addressing the conference participants, she particularly stressed the role of workplaces that are "of central importance for each and every person." "We need to make workplaces 'centers of hope', we must use workplaces to organize prevention, treatment and care, while ensuring confidentiality', Dr. Kisting said.

The regional forum provided ILO the opportunity to show case the ILO tripartite approach to leverage the role of the world of work in expanding the national AIDS response. Thanks to the support of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), ILO constituents - governments, employers' and workers' organizations - and resource persons from various countries in the region took part in the event .

"We are pleased to see high level commitment from the region, collaboration between the UN Agencies, government and civil society, Dr Kisting said. "What is most important is that the voice of people living with HIV/AIDS was heard. We see this conference as a major step forward in fighting the epidemics.'

"In advance of the High Level Review Meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York and the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg, we reaffirm the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS on 27 June 2001 and commit to a massive scaling up of HIV prevention, treatment and care with the aim of coming as close as possible to the goal of universal access by 2010 for all those who need it" , says the Summary Statement of the Conference Organizing Committee.

The delegates called on the governments of Eastern Europe and Central Asia to "strengthen cooperation among ministries and government departments, and representatives of civil society, religious institutions, media, labour unions and the private sector, taking measures to ensure the full involvement of all parties concerned, especially people living with HIV/AIDS and communities most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the HIV/AIDS response."

The next conference is planned to be organized in two years time to review progress that will have been made in the region.

For more information on the Conference please visit http://www.eecaac2006.org/eng/