WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Rodrigo de Rato, managing director of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, called for urgency in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
"The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a matter of such serious concern -- adversely affecting the development prospects of many of our member countries -- that it calls for unprecedented actions," De Rato said in a statement Tuesday.
"The effects of the epidemic touch on virtually all aspects of a country's social, economic, demographic, and political development -- for those reasons alone, HIV/AIDS must be a major issue of concern to the IMF."
The IMF has endorsed the call by the United Nations for a global campaign in the fight against HIV/AIDS and it is collaborating with the U.N. community to support the initiative to expand country-level AIDS prevention and treatment programs.
"There can be no doubt that the impact of HIV/AIDS, and the associated response of the international community, raises issues that go beyond the core areas of experience of the IMF, or for that matter of any individual international organization," said de Rato.
World AIDS Day 2004 is Wednesday.
