ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 8TH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON HIV CROKE PARK, DUBLIN
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 8TH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON HIV CROKE PARK, DUBLIN THURSDAY, 5TH NOVEMBER 2009
Dia dhaoibh go léir agus fáilte chuig Páirc an Chrócaigh. I am very pleased to be here today to welcome you all to Dublin, host city for this important 8th Nordic Conference on HIV. My thanks to John Flannery, General Manager of AIDS West for inviting me to join you today.
Back in February 2004 Dublin hosted the meeting of the representatives of States and Governments from Europe and Central Asia for a major international HIV/Aids Conference, from which came the Dublin Declaration on Partnership to fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia. Today’s conference is another equally important opportunity to advance our knowledge and thinking around this most vexed of issues and especially to reinforce the international network of endeavour which alone can tackle and overcome HIV/AIDS.
The phenomenon of HIV/AIDS respects no borders but devastates some peoples and places much worse than others. In the developed world, thanks to better treatments, education, lifestyle changes and health care, the phenomenon of deaths from AIDS has largely given way to people living with and managing HIV. The significant improvements in outcomes for people with HIV in the developed world is very welcome, very hopeful and reassuring but the danger is of course that it may make us increasingly complacent about the rising infection rates in our own part of the world and the very different story of HIV/AIDS in the developing world, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa.
One of the things faced both in the developing and developed worlds is the issue of societal ignorance and fear of HIV/AIDS which manifest as, judgmentalism, stigma, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination. The impact on those with HIV or AIDS can be a devastating isolation and exclusion from everyday run of the mill elements that make up a life. These actions and reactions are utterly unnecessary as well as immoral and often downright unlawful for they fly in the face of the right to equality and dignity of each human being under our law, under the international laws on human rights and the law of simple common decency. But mere condemnation of those attitudes is no guarantee that they will disappear. That takes sustained education and effort which is why Ireland several years ago launched the ‘Stamp Out Stigma’ campaign designed to enhance public awareness, prevent work-place discrimination and increase access to services. Chair of that campaign, Noel Walsh, spoke about its work to the 7th Nordic Conference but sadly died on his way home from the conference. The loss of such a champion and fearless advocate as Noel, is felt deeply by the community whose voice he made sure was heard. He would surely have been delighted to hear of the recent announcement by President Obama of the removal of the twenty-two year ban on people with HIV entering US territory, proof of the changing climate which is the result of education, debate and a determination not to accept a culture of festering silence and stigma. This work has momentum and it is gaining ground even if at times the struggle seems overwhelming.
And it must seem that way in the developing world where the vast majority of HIV/AIDS sufferers are to be found. I have seen and so have many of you, the ramshackle clinics to which sufferers drag themselves for even the most minimal and rudimentary treatment, the families headed by children whose parents have both succumbed to AIDS, the children born HIV positive, the communities and small industries which do not have an active and healthy labour cohort to keep them going, the rapid slide backwards of two decades of advances through development aid, the scary statistics in some places, the patchy access to diagnostic services and treatment, the problems of seeking and sustaining treatment, the education deficit, the economic deficit, the cyclical behaviour which promotes the disease, the silencing effect of stigma. We have also seen the considerable effort made by volunteers, international funders and state agencies to turn the tide through education, culture change, lifestyle changes, treatment and the hope offered by anti-retroviral and other drugs. With millions infected and many millions dead since the disease first came to public attention, it would be easy to succumb to the counsel of despair but it would also not only be unacceptable and cowardly, it would fly in the face of the progress that has already been made, the research which is ongoing and the determination of professionals like those gathered here who have made the treatment and eradication of this disease their vocation.
Education not only disseminates the information which helps prevent new HIV infection but it also helps us to explore those fears, that ignorance that lies behind the social and emotional process of stigma which is so real in its consequences. This conference helps gather the information which forms the resource base of that education. You have each your own unique experience and wisdom and intuition distilled from your work in this area. All of that properly gleaned and harvested can be distilled into a fresh new fuel to take the education debate to yet another level of challenge and forensic accuracy.
The rising diagnosis rates here in Ireland raise concerns about the effectiveness of the prevention message. They point up the need for that message to be preached relentlessly, without let up but in ways that do not push people deeper into silence and secrecy but rather encourage and support them through the process of change which is their road to their own health safety and the safety of those they love. The expertise and experience gathered here today from a variety of countries, representing NGOs, the medical and caring professions, the pharmaceutical industry and most importantly those living with HIV will help us here in Ireland and internationally to keep our focus firmly on this key challenge. I hope it also helps us to renew our commitment to work across borders and boundaries of geography, politics, vocation and discipline to ensure that we are working in a systemically coherent and effective way to get this illness truly off the agenda, not by ignoring it but by overcoming it.
There is an old Irish saying – 'ní neart go cur le chéile' – which means ‘there is no strength without unity’ and I think it was the pursuit of that unity that brought you to Dublin and to this Conference. I hope that this mix of people will stimulate debate and facilitate the sharing of information, encourage best practice and provoke new ideas so that we can make HIV/AIDS history. To each of you personally, I want to express my warmest thanks for your dedication to such an important issue and for the generosity with which you share your experience, skill and insights – we are deeply in your debt. I wish you well in your discussions and I hope you also find some time to explore and discover the delights of our fair city.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.