RECOGNISING the commitments made by SADC Member States in the Abuja and UNGASS Declarations on the need to fight HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases such as Malaria and Tuberculosis; CONFIRMING that the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework (2000-2004) approved by the SADC Council of Ministers in 2000 showed that State parties are committed to combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic through effective regional collaboration, mutual support and the participation of all key stakeholders; CONVINCED that halting and rolling back HIV infection constitutes a top priority in the SADC Agenda and is an integral part of the regional programme for eradicating poverty; FURTHER CONVINCED that our regional efforts in combating HIV/AIDS constitute an essential part of the continental response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as contained in the Abuja Declaration (2001) on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases and in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD - 2001); WELCOMING AND REAFFIRMING the commitments on HIV/AIDS contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration (September 2000) and United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) Declaration (June 2001), and the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on Children. DEEPLY CONCERNED THAT Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular the SADC Region, is currently the worst affected in the world by the HIV/AIDS pandemic as demonstrated by the rapid spread of the HIV infection, the heavy burden of illness and millions of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, and that in Southern Africa in particular, the recent adverse humanitarian crisis resulting from the adverse climatic conditions, was exacerbated by the severe HIV/AIDS pandemic; NOTING WITH PROFOUND CONCERN THAT the HIV/AIDS pandemic is reversing the developmental gains made in the past decades and is posing the greatest threat to sustainable development of the region due to loss of the most productive individuals in all sectors of our economies, decline in productivity, diversion of scarce resources from production to the care and support of the HIV/AIDS infected and affected persons, as well as mitigating the effects on various sectors, and resulting in an increase in the number of orphans and the disruption of family structures; RECOGNISING THAT the principal contributory factors to the spread of HIV/AIDS are extreme poverty, ignorance, negative attitudes and practices, and that the general underdevelopment and unfavourable international economic environment reflected in high indebtedness of some of the SADC Member States, limited access to international markets and declining official development assistance, further aggravate the pandemic; 2