PUBLIC, private and international agencies have agreed to work together in a pioneering collaboration to tackle the exploding HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe and central Asia.

A major meeting organised by the World Bank and the centre for health management, Tanaka business school, set out the blueprint for a novel course of action in the first such initiative in the region.

The one-day seminar brought together senior figures from leading funding agencies, including the World Bank, the Global Fund, German GTZ and the WEF Global Health Initiative.

It explored options for harnessing the power and the role of the private sector, along with other partners, to have an efficient and significant impact in the region.

"We agreed to identify a vehicle where funds and efforts can be pooled, and examined how the World Bank could co-ordinate the process," said Dr Rifat Atun, director of the centre for health management.

"We'll be working with governments in the region to make things happen. The proposed collaboration of key partners offers a unique opportunity to mount a truly multi-sectoral response to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe and central Asia. We can build on the expertise and strengths of each of the partners."

Private sector organisations which also took part in discussions included Unilever, DaimlerChrysler, Anglo American, Merck and Co, Pfizer, GSK, Novartis, IFPMA, Innovest Strategic Value Advisers and an NGO, Trans-atlantic Partnership Against AIDS. Debrework Zewdie, director, global AIDS programmes and Armin Fidler sector director, human development at the World Bank, also attended.

The World Bank is working to stimulate tripartite relationships between governments, NGOs and the private sector through the multicountry AIDS programme's $1.5 billion dollar package to fight HIV/AIDS around the world.

"More than 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, and the numbers continue to rise and the rate of rise in Europe and the central Asia region now exceeds that in other regions of the world," added Dr Atun.

"The epidemic is eroding productivity in public and private sectors at just the time countries need to become more competitive to cope with rapid globalisation.

"Collaborating institutions can now plan how lessons learned from addressing the epidemic in other regions and countries can be translated into action in the European and central Asian context."