Government leaders, civil society representatives and people living with HIV from 34 Asia-Pacific countries are meeting in Bangkok, to speed up progress towards an AIDS-free region.

The three-day meeting at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, ESCAP, will also look at ways of removing legal and policy barriers that hamper access to HIV services.

Steve Kraus is the director of UNAIDS Asia Pacific. He explains why Bangkok is a crucial follow-up to the New York meeting six months before.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Steve Kraus, director, UN AIDS regional support team, Asia and the Pacific

KRAUS: I think what you see here in the Asia Pacific, is great steps going forward. Although it's been just six months, countries want to come and say "Listen, let's make sure we all understood what we committed ourselves to, and then, let's pave the way for further progress. Let's make the commitment, as we did, in New York, very very real in our region." So they're gathering here for three days to take a look at how can we move the agenda forward.

LAM: And of course, in New York, huge promises were made, very ambitious targets, and yet, ESCAP is thinking, although the Asia Pacific has made gains, "the epidemic is still outpacing the response." Can you elaborate for us?

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