Asia Society is encouraged by recent actions in the region to face up to this growing crisis. In India, the business community is taking important steps, as evidenced by the recent partnership between the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS last month in New Delhi. Nongovernmental agencies in Thailand and Cambodia have found innovative ways to achieve wide support for "100 percent condom programs" among sex workers. Iran is setting a new standard with needle exchange programs and working to promote this throughout Central Asia.

Recent decisions in South Africa and China to deliver care and treatment, including anti-retroviral therapy, to those infected are a necessary and welcomed action. For this to be a proactive and translatable step, both South Africa and China will need the resources and infrastructure to sustain these policies. . The recent award of $95 million from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to China will assist in this effort.

The United States should also be supportive financially and otherwise to these efforts. While we applaud Congress's approval of $2.4 billion for the first year of the global AIDS administration, we are concerned that Asia has been entirely overlooked. Asia Society also encourages other global leaders, including Japan and Korea, to fight the disease.

Stigma and discrimination continue to fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia and the Pacific, hampering prevention and education efforts. Through its public education efforts, Asia Society will work to challenge the attitudes that foster stigma, discrimination, and prejudice against people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Women need to be at the center of any comprehensive response as they represent a high risk and vulnerable group. Efforts must be directed to empower women to make real choices and to ensure that their voices are heard.

"Asia Society plays a very important convening role on issues of increasing global significance," said Ambassador Nicholas Platt, President of the Asia Society. "The issue of HIV/AIDS transcends national boundaries and thereby has relevance to US policy and interests abroad. We are proud to join others in this global campaign."

To commemorate World AIDS Day, Asia Society will screen A Closer Walk, an important documentary by Robert Bilheimer that depicts the harsh reality of HIV/AIDS in the world, yet touches on the hope of a global response. The public program brings together a diverse coalition of groups fighting HIV/AIDS, including: American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR); Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA); Council on Foreign Relations; DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa); Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS; International Center for Research on Women; International Women's Health Coalition; Physicians for Human Rights - Health Action AIDS; Population Council; Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India (SAATHII).

Remarks will be delivered by: Kenneth Cole, Vice Chairman of the Board, American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Joel Bender, General Motors Corporate Medical Director; Sarah Kambou Director, Program on HIV/AIDS, International Center for Research on Women; and Robert Bilheimer, Director and President, Worldwide Documentaries.