A/RES/S-26/2 people in developing countries are the most affected and that women, young adults and children, in particular girls, are the most vulnerable; 5. Concerned also that the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS will constitute a serious obstacle to the realization of the global development goals we adopted at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations; 6. Recalling and reaffirming our previous commitments on HIV/AIDS made through: • The United Nations Millennium Declaration, of 8 September 2000; 1 • The political declaration and further actions and initiatives to implement the commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development, of 1 July 2000; 2 • The political declaration 3 and further action and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 4 of 10 June 2000; • Key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, of 2 July 1999; 5 • The regional call for action to fight HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, of 25 April 2001; • The Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action for the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases in Africa, of 27 April 2001; • The Declaration of the Tenth Ibero-American Summit of heads of State, of 18 November 2000; • The Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS, of 14 February 2001; • The European Union Programme for Action: Accelerated action on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the context of poverty reduction, of 14 May 2001; • The Baltic Sea Declaration on HIV/AIDS Prevention, of 4 May 2000; • The Central Asian Declaration on HIV/AIDS, of 18 May 2001; 7. Convinced of the need to have an urgent, coordinated and sustained response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which will build on the experience and lessons learned over the past 20 years; 8. Noting with grave concern that Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, is currently the worst-affected region, where HIV/AIDS is considered a state of emergency which threatens development, social cohesion, political stability, food security and life expectancy and imposes a devastating economic burden, and that the dramatic situation on the continent needs urgent and exceptional national, regional and international action; 9. Welcoming the commitments of African heads of State or Government at the Abuja special summit in April 2001, particularly their pledge to set a target of 1 See resolution 55/2. Resolution S-24/2, annex, sects. I and III. 3 Resolution S-23/2, annex. 4 Resolution S-23/3, annex. 5 Resolution S-21/2, annex. 2 2

Select target paragraph3