Anti-AIDS Campaigner
On 14 June 2005, Nailatikau was appointed the UNAIDS Special Representative for the Pacific. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, he was chosen because his political position, his respect throughout the Pacific region, and his outspokenness on AIDS-related issues. He has previously served as a UNAIDS Pacific spokesman, and in October2004 chaired the first conference of Pacific Parliamentarians on the Role of Pacific Parliamentarians in the fight against HIV/AIDS, in Suva.
Nailatikau's outspoken calls to tackle the AIDS crisis have attracted controversy. On 22 November 2005, he called on people to recognize the reality that promiscuity existed, and that safe sex needed to be promoted to combat the associated AIDS risk. It was unrealistic to deny promiscuity and just promote abstinence, he considered, adding that this was a matter of life and death. He also called on churches to face the reality that promiscuity existed among their own congregations, and to meet the problem "head on" and play a part in promoting the use of condoms.
He represented the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) at the World AIDS Conference in Toronto in August 2006.
Read more about this topic: Epeli Nailatikau