Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-04-24-Speech-2-062"
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"en.20070424.5.2-062"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Andrejevs, and the members of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety for their excellent work in drafting this report. I would also like to thank the other two committees, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, for their contributions on this important issue.
For us it is a very high priority. It is not just about a policy or a strategy. It is a question of moral obligation. I believe that the system as a whole has failed our citizens over the past 20 years and it is now time to resume our efforts and correct our mistakes.
Let me also say how happy I am that Mrs Schmidt, the German Health Minister, is here today. It is the first time in my three years as Commissioner that my counterpart from the Council has attended such a debate in plenary. I am very happy, because it demonstrates the importance of all three institutions working together very closely, very firmly and very effectively in dealing with this disease.
HIV/AIDS: is it a forgotten problem or is it a hidden disease? Is our approach that if we do not talk about it, it will go away? Well, it does not work like that. The question, then, is have we become complacent? Do we take it for granted that we have overcome this problem, that there is no need for action or that it is a problem for others, for certain risk groups? That they, therefore, must deal with it, while we do not have to worry about it? Maybe that was in people’s minds in the past, but I am glad that today it is not the case. We now know that this is a problem for the whole of society. Perhaps society is now paying because of our complacency in the past and now is the time to take new effective action to deal with this problem.
Most of you know my frustration that in the European Union, where we have the highest level of education in the world, the highest level of healthcare and the highest standard of living, people still die because of the wrong lifestyle choices. Our efforts to ensure prevention aim to address that. For me it is frustrating, and even embarrassing, that 20 or 25 years on we still have to discuss the same issues regarding HIV/AIDS. We still have to discuss the same measures to be taken, measures that should now be standard and routine in the European Union. We still have to explain that the simple use of condoms is the most effective way to protect ourselves. It is a simple truth. We must also explain that everybody is at risk; we cannot start saying to some groups that it is their problem and that those not in the risk group do not have to worry about it. We still have to stress that simple preventative measures do protect.
The results of the Eurobarometer poll were, as you know, shocking. A large percentage of people in the European Union still believe that they can get infected with HIV/AIDS by kissing on the mouth, drinking from the same glass or by using the same toilet seat. It is embarrassing that after 25 years people still do not know more than that. Or, even worse, that taking care of patients who are HIV-positive could actually infect the healthcare worker.
I believe that we have to step up our efforts. It is now a problem for the general population, especially young people and women. A large number of young people became sexually active after the end of the campaigns of the 1980s. We saw a huge wave of campaigns by famous people – actors, heads of government and singers – who drew attention to this problem and helped focus on how to deal with it. Unfortunately that has stopped. We thought we had the matter under control, but we did not. The new generations are growing up unaware. I am therefore very grateful to the German Presidency, the Health Minister and the Chancellor herself for refocusing on this disease and the simple ways in which we can protect ourselves.
At the same time, it is extremely important to invest in research, and the Commission is doing that. It is very important to invest in medicine – I will not repeat what has already been said – and to ensure access to affordable and effective ARV medicines. These are important measures that we can take. For us it is a very high priority and, as I said, I am very happy that the Council and the German Presidency, and Parliament too, look at it in the same way.
We will resume and step up our campaigns to educate young people. We will again encourage the use of condoms. We will carry out research on preventative measures and medicine. This will be gender-related, because we realise that there are aspects that differ amongst men and women and we will adjust our research and our efforts to take account of this reality. I have noted the paragraph in the report and agree that, within the Commission, we must make sure that we cooperate among ourselves, among the individual departments responsible for defined areas, whilst also dealing with the subject as a global problem. We know that it affects the Neighbourhood countries but also developing countries, and we have a responsibility to work with them as well.
I would like to commend the rapporteur and Parliament on the report. It really touches on all the important issues. We will be working on those issues. In some cases, such as interdepartmental cooperation within the Commission, we were already doing so. We will also take action by means of funding and through programmes. For example, in 2007 we will be working on developing best practices in addressing the risky sexual behaviour among young people and the prevention of HIV/AIDS in men who have sex with men and developing training programmes for healthcare personnel and NGOs to improve the treatment and care of people living with HIV/AIDS."@en1
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