Your Excellency Mr. Vice-President [of the General Assembly],
Mr. Michel Sidibé, [Executive Director of UNAIDS],
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to join you at this morning's meeting and to deliver the following statement on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Excellencies,

Today's plenary meeting takes place as our response to HIV and AIDS reaches a crossroads.

Since 2001, global rates of new HIV infections have decreased by 17 per cent.

More than four million people in low- and middle-income countries have gained access to antiretroviral therapy. This is a 10-fold increase in just five years.

A few years ago, tools to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission were just ideas. Now they are being put into practice all over the world.

We are also confronting stigma and discrimination. This can be seen in the lifting of decades-old travel restrictions against people living with HIV by several countries.

And yet we need to do much more.

Read the full statement on un.org.