Participants in the meeting for the Saudi Initiative to Combat AIDS in GCC countries stated that legislation is required to protect the rights of people living with the HIV/AIDS virus. The initiative supports advisory programs, voluntary testing and tests for sexually transmitted diseases.
The two-day meeting, held in Riyadh under the aegis of the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeeah, also recommended improved joint work between ministries and other health, legal and social bodies for public awareness programs and training courses; the GCC committee should also coordinate with related authorities to produce a “media charter” on how to report and analyze AIDS-related issues.
Further recommendations included programs to prevent transmission from mother to child, greater support and access to treatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS, and efforts to inform the categories of society most vulnerable to infection.
The GCC countries need to conduct field research about how the HIV virus is being transmitted and which categories of society are most vulnerable.
Civil society and the private sector need to get involved and support protection programs aimed at young people, and GCC countries all need to be involved in developing a unified strategy to work both with each other and with regional and international organizations. The committee must also adopt mechanisms to ensure the implementation of Riyadh Charter. The Charter includes ten recommendations for GCC countries to act upon.
The Saudi Initiative to Combat AIDS in GCC countries was hosted by the Ministry of Health on the 16th of April, leading up to qualitative international participation of GCC countries at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS which takes place next June.
The initiative was launched in coordination with Executive Office of the GCC Council of Ministers of Health to establish future roadmap and cooperate in order to reduce the rate of HIV and AIDS incidence and reach a unified strategy to combat AIDS, which poses a real threat to the long-term growth of the region.
The participants agreed on the need to join efforts to better understand and know their countries’ epidemics. During the meeting, they shared global and regional experiences, identified obstacles hindering an effective response and agreed to enhance national AIDS strategies that are focused and results-oriented. The initiative also included increasing efforts through awareness programs, encouraging prevention and informing the categories of society most vulnerable to infection. That is in addition to removing the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV by raising awareness among the society.
The initiative aims to unify a strategy to combat the epidemic and motivate countries to combat AIDS according to the global approach, in addition it also aims to control the disease’s rates in the GCC countries and remain within the least infected countries; as a unified unit.