A Watershed in the Fight HIV/AIDS epidemic has become a global
crisis that demands global action. In many countries, it is
triggering national emergencies, wiping out human lives and
decades of hard-won social and economic gains. determined
efforts to hold the epidemic in check, it shows no signs of
abating. Its scale and impact far exceed even the worst-case
predictions made a decade past 20 years, more than 56 million
people have been infected with HIV—almost equal to the
population of the United Kingdom. Some 22 million have died of
AIDS-related illnesses, 4.3 million of them children. an
extraordinary worldwide response can reverse its spread. It can
be done. The past two decades have provided the world with a
wealth of experience. We know what works in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. move this fight forward, the United Nations General
Assembly in September 2000 decided to convene a Special Session
on HIV/AIDS. meeting will be held in New York on 25-27 June
2001—almost 20 years to the day after the first clin