E/2011/27 E/CN.6/2011/12 Concerned further that women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV and have different and unequal access to the use of health resources for the prevention of HIV infection and treatment of and care and support for people living with HIV and affected by AIDS, Stressing that the HIV and AIDS pandemic, with its devastating scale and impact on women and girls, requires urgent action across all internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, in all fields and at all levels, Stressing also that gender equality and the political, social and economic empowerment of women and girls are fundamental elements in the reduction of their vulnerability to HIV and are essential to reversing the pandemic, Expressing its concern that the HIV and AIDS pandemic reinforces gender inequalities, that women and girls are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, that they are more easily infected, especially at an earlier age than men and boys, that they bear the disproportionate burden of caring for and supporting people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS and that they become more vulnerable to poverty as a result of the pandemic, Reaffirms the need for Governments, supported by the relevant 1. actors, including civil society and the private sector, to intensify national efforts and international cooperation in the implementation of the commitments contained in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS,20 the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS,21 the Beijing Platform for Action18 and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development;19 2. Also reaffirms the commitment to achieve universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and support, and the resolve to have halted, by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV, and stresses the urgency of significantly scaling up efforts towards meeting these goals, and in this regard looks forward to the convening of the Highlevel Meeting of the General Assembly in June 2011, which is to undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in addressing the HIV and AIDS pandemic, and the remaining gaps and challenges, and to chart the way forward so as to guide and monitor the HIV and AIDS response beyond 2010; Further reaffirms the commitment to achieve universal access to 3. reproductive health by 2015, as set out in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and in Millennium Development Goal 5, which encompasses integrating this goal into strategies to attain internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration22 aimed at reducing maternal mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality, combating HIV and AIDS and eradicating poverty; Stresses the need to significantly increase and coordinate political 4. and financial commitment to address gender equality and equity in national HIV and AIDS responses, and urges Governments to effectively reflect in their national policies, strategies and budgets the gender dimension of the pandemic, in line with the time-bound goals of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, as well as the goals 20 11-28654