Notice Board

The Santiago de Compostela Statement on HIV/AIDS

We as rural practitioners at the 6th Wonca World Rural Health Conference in Santiago are deeply concerned about the extent of the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic and the way that it exacerbates the problems of poverty, inequity and underdevelopment in the world.
We recognize this to be a global problem. We live in an interdependent world. None of us can remain uninvolved. All of us are affected if not infected.

We believe:

it is critical to address HIV/AIDS in terms of primary health care, health care systems and international organisations, and
the developed world has a moral responsibility to work towards equitable care of those infected with HIV/AIDS in all parts of the world.

We therefore:

commit ourselves to work with other health professionals, non-governmental organisations and communities to ensure a comprehensive, equitable response to HIV/AIDS at a primary care level, within the philosophy of Health for All;
support a comprehensive approach to the problem which includes both adequately resourced, appropriate treatment and broad-based preventive strategies (including safe medical practices, education about risks, promotion of behavior change, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, etc); and
call on Wonca

to recognize the critical importance and urgency of the situation regarding HIV/AIDS, and
to lobby member countries and international agencies to commit resources to the problem, especially in the developing world, recognising the importance both of strengthening local health care systems and of addressing the issues of global poverty, injustice and inequity which fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

webmaster contact: nicholsl@ucalgary.ca
Page last updated: September 2004