Under the 2005 banner "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise," the United Nations system around the world observed World AIDS Day through the launch of new initiatives and through ceremonies at the largest cathedral in New York, cricket stadiums in Lahore and Auckland, and a range of other venues.

In his message on the Day, Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted the prodigious resources currently available to fight the spread of the disease and called on the international community to intensify its efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reversing the epidemic by 2015.

"For halting the spread of AIDS is not only a Millennium Development Goal in itself; it is a prerequisite for reaching most of the others," he said, referring to the development targets to reduce extreme poverty and a range of other ills set by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000.

Noting that the resources and the institutional machinery is available for such an intensified effort, he said that there was currently about $8 billion available for AIDS efforts in developing countries annually, compared to $300 million a decade ago, and the national AIDS response in some 40 countries is led by Heads of State or Government themselves, or their deputies.

With signs of progress in almost every region of the world and new commitments made at the World Summit in September, he said: "We have real evidence that AIDS is a problem with a solution."

"So, this is a time to concentrate our minds. It is a time to recognize that although our response so far has succeeded in some of the particulars, it has yet to match the epidemic in scale. It is a time to admit that if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of AIDS by 2015, then we must do far, far more," he concluded.

Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that it was clear, after 25 years that investments made in HIV prevention, treatment and care could ameliorate the sufferings of victims and break the cycle of new infections. "There are no excuses," he said.

To bolster funds available for the immense effort, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, suggested that private companies contribute 0.7 per cent of pre-tax profits annually to replenish the Global Fund to fight infectious diseases and that access to anti-retroviral drugs be equalized between rich and poor countries.

On behalf of ten UNAIDS participating agencies, a new international award celebrating community action on AIDS was launched by the UN Development Programme and other organizations, to honour grassroots leadership in fighting the disease.

The UN Children's Fund, the UN World Health Organization and their partners called for greater access to preventive services for pregnant women living with HIV to stop the virus being passed to children, as they convened a forum to plan the forward in anti-AIDS efforts in the worst-affected countries.

"On this day, it is important to focus our attention on what we know is working and to put greater political commitment and financial resources toward these ends," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, saying AIDS strategies must involve all people affected, including women, youth and men.