This briefing will feature Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS; and Randall Tobias, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

This briefing is part of a series cosponsored with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The high-level briefing series is aimed at spurring action on three critical aspects of the global AIDS agenda. Series topics will include: the feminization of AIDS, a vision for AIDS and the future, and mounting threats to stability caused by the global AIDS epidemic.

"The collaboration between UNAIDS and the Woodrow Wilson Center seeks to engage foreign policy experts more actively in the global fight against AIDS," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "I am very pleased to join President Hamilton and the Wilson Center in this important endeavor."

"The AIDS pandemic is more than a health issue; it is a critical foreign policy problem for the United States and the rest of the world," said Lee H. Hamilton, President of the Woodrow Wilson Center. "I look forward to welcoming Dr. Piot and his UNAIDS colleagues to Washington, D.C., for this significant series."

The series will be part of a broader effort to raise awareness and encourage action on global AIDS within the U.S. foreign policy community. The other two programs in the series are as follows:

Confronting the Crisis: Women and AIDS – November 10, 2004, 9:00-11:00 a.m., Dr. Kathleen Cravero, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS

Threatening Global Stability: AIDS and Security – January 20, 2005, 10:00 a.m.-12 noon, Ulf Kristoffersson, Director of Security and Humanitarian Response, UNAIDS

All series briefings will take place at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, located in the Ronald Reagan Building at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

UNAIDS is the leading advocate for worldwide action against AIDS, bringing together ten United Nations organizations. It leads, strengthens and supports an expanded response to the epidemic that will prevent the spread of HIV, provide care and support for those infected and affected by the disease, reduce the vulnerability of individuals and communities to AIDS, and alleviate the impact of the epidemic.