Country: France Committee: UN AIDS Topic: Improvement of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention in developing country.

Name: Soa Avila Jamesson School: Comunidad Educativa Tonalli HIV/Aids has become a growing issue since its discovery in 1981. It kills an increasing amount of people in every country aroung the globe, and affects not only the infected but member of the whole family since it is a genetic disease that is transmited to babies through pregnancy. UN AIDS has estimated that 42 million people are infected and every second 10 people die because of it. Numbers keep increasing exponentially, except for one: the amount of people cured. Right now,a cure towards this disease hasnt been found, and the virus can only be treated, while the hope of nding a cure decreases. Testings have shown to be unacurate and attempts to raise awareness of the issue have failed. The information regarding the topic differs in every country, and currently there are an estimated 17 different denition on what HIV is. The dentions change almost every year, and are rewritten for political benets, not scientic. Pharmacies have stopped investing on nding a cure, since the prot of selling AIDS treatments are much better than the prots that selling a cure can give them. We would be fools if we believed the matter has improved in the last decades, because it has only gotten worse. HIV/AIDS continues to be a major problem worldwide, and few people are aware of this. Action must be taken. France currently ranks as the 33th country in HIV infected people, with 150,000. The syndrome is considered one of its biggest social problems, since it is ranked second, after the US in industrialized countries. The virus was actually rst discovered inside the country and it remains one of the biggest AIDS researcher. There has been an steady increase of infections since 2001 and is the most affected country in Europe, yet it is the country that has been able to provide treatment to more of its people. There are constant efforts from the country to help support developing nations on the ght against AIDS, and it is actually part of its Millennium Development Goals. Its commitment to the cause, has had a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people. The help it gives nancially is channeled through multilateral initiatives like the Global Fund Against HIV/AIDS. It is the second largest contributor to this previously mentioned association with nearly 300 million per annum. France has striven to design and promote innovative nancing mechanisms to creaty steady resources, and was key to the founding of the UNITAID, an association that aims to reduce the cost of quality medicines and diagnostics. France is obviously committeed to solving the issue and continues to help ght the disease. HIV/AIDS is not improving in neither developings nor in 1st world countries. Still, France believes that the following solutions, if carried out correctly, will have a very positive result. 1. Currently, testing in Africa is highly inacurate and unreliable. Those who can afford it go to testing tents, which exist only in the most developed countries of the continent and take a test based solely on a questionaire and a blood tests. Most of the times, its just a guess on the doctors behalf. Then, there are the poorer parts of Africa which use the Bangui Denition to diagnose the disease. The Bangui denition is just a list of syntoms that if present in the patient, he/she is said to be HIV positive. These countries make diagnosis with words like "probably and "likely" which leads experts to believe, that probably about 25% of the people who are said to have AIDS had a minor u and yet have to face a death sentence. This has to change. What France thinks should be done is implement testings that are used in developed countries that consist on the ELISA test and the Western Blot. France also believes we should invest a higher percentage of the money in improving testings, because even in these developed countries testings tend to be wrong. 2. Create a major media campaign, especially through radio stations that communicate HIV/AIDS syntoms as well as causes. Also, distribute condoms through Africa to allow those with lower resources to have protection. 3. Implement sex ed in schools in Africa and around the world. Although a lot of countries do have STD talks in

schools the teachings are not handled properly, as some phycologists examined. What happens is that people are taught how to prevent HIV/AIDS but aren't even explained what the disease is, or the damage it does to you. 93% of the world's population has no idea HIV and AIDS are something different. As physcologist Jimmy Fourrat explained "People wont stop eating ham until they know what it is made of, same happens with HIV." 4. Another thing that needs to be done is standarize information in every country. There are currently 12 denitions of AIDS, and almost every year these are changed, based not on new discoveries but on political decicions. This must not happen. Countries create their own denition, making a person HIV positive in here but no there. Testings vary per country, and everything falls apart. What France recommends should be done is basically create an ofcial denition of AIDS and testings. Unlike languages, diagnosis and treatment shouldnt differ per country.