1 December 2012 Michel Sidibé Executive Director of UNAIDS Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations To the millions who have come together with compassion and determination on this World AIDS Day, we say: “Your blood, sweat and tears are changing the world.” We have moved from despair to hope. Far fewer people are dying from AIDS. 25 countries have reduced new infections by more than 50%. I want these results in every country. The pace of progress is quickening. It is unprecedented—what used to take a decade is now being achieved in just 24 months. Now that we know rapid and massive scale up of HIV programmes is possible, we need to do more. Friends, we only have a thousand days left before the deadline of the 2015 global AIDS targets. So today (Saturday), on World AIDS Day, let us renew our commitment to getting to zero. Zero new HIV infections Zero discrimination Zero AIDS-related deaths Contact UNAIDS Communications | tel. +41 22 791 1697 | communications@unaids.org UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners to maximize results for the AIDS response. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.