UN chief calls for global action to end AIDS

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for global action to put an end to AIDS by 2020.

The U.N. chief says that if all partners involved in the fight against AIDS unite “as never before” the goal can be met — “zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths.”

He told leaders, ministers and diplomats from the U.N.’s 192 member nations at Wednesday’s opening of a three-day meeting to assess progress in combatting HIV/AIDS that the first goal is to provide universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2015.

But to relegate AIDS to the history books, he said there must also be lower costs, better programs and improved accountability.