UNAIDS recognizes Mr Ban for his outstanding efforts to ensure access to HIV services for all and for speaking out for the most marginalized in society.

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 30 November 2016—UNAIDS has honoured the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, for his unfaltering commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic and for acting as a voice for the voiceless to ensure access to HIV services for the key populations most affected by HIV.

Under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the world reached the AIDS targets of Millennium Development Goal 6 and moved to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Exceptional progress has also been made towards a shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

“Together, we have worked for a world where more people than ever are on treatment. Half as many children are infected through mother-to-child transmission. And double the number of people have access to medicines. I am calling for action to get on the Fast-Track to our target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020,” said Mr Ban.

Mr Ban has consistently spoken out on behalf of gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, prisoners and transgender people in order to ensure that they have access to life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services. He has been a longstanding supporter of an evidence-informed approach to the epidemic that puts people’s needs at the centre of the response to HIV.

“We are motivated to fight AIDS because we know that every child deserves care, every person deserves treatment and all vulnerable groups deserve protection from stigma and abuse,” said Mr Ban. “Tolerance and awareness help stop AIDS. Speaking out protects life.”

Mr Ban was presented with the Award for Leadership by the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, at a special World AIDS Day event held in his honour at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America, on the eve of World AIDS Day 2016. 

“The progress the world has made in reducing the impact of HIV and expanding access to health for millions of people would not have been possible without the determined leadership of my friend, Ban Ki-moon,” said Mr Sidibé. “He has been consistent in his support for the most vulnerable in the world and remains a staunch human rights defender for the people most affected by the epidemic. His sense of service, commitment and compassion will continue to be a source of inspiration.” 

Mr Ban has strongly supported the ambitious targets set by UNAIDS and its partners. In 2011, he participated in the launch of the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive, which prioritized more than 20 countries that, in 2009, accounted for 90% of the global number of pregnant women living with HIV who were in need of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission. New HIV infections among children in the 21 countries most affected by the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa decreased from 270 000 [230 000–330 000] in 2009 to 110 000 [78 000–150 000] in 2015. AIDS-related deaths among children in the priority countries fell by 53% in those six years as their access to treatment tripled.

In July 2015, Mr Ban participated in an event in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to mark the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 6 target of 15 million people gaining access to life-saving antiretroviral medicines. The “15 by 15” target set in 2011 and championed by Mr Ban was achieved several months ahead of schedule. Access to antiretroviral treatment continues to expand, to 18.2 million [16.1 million–19.0 million] people as of June 2016. Treatment access has grown six fold since Mr Ban took up office in 2007.

His bold and visionary leadership will continue to inspire the world to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNAIDS LEADERSHIP AWARD

The UNAIDS Award for Leadership recognizes a person or an organization that has made a major and lasting contribution to restoring dignity and improving people’s lives. UNAIDS recognizes the key role leadership plays in creating an environment for positive social change and accelerating progress in the AIDS response and beyond.

The physical award was created by celebrated artist Jamie Harris and is made of infused glass. It has a blue orb to represent the United Nations delivering as one and a red flame to embody the global solidarity to end the AIDS epidemic. 

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The United Nations is commemorating its 70th anniversary in 2015. Celebrations were kicked off in June in San Francisco, where the UN Charter was signed in 1945. A number of major events have been organized since then as part of a global campaign to reflect on the contributions the organization has made to make the world a better place for all.

In his message on the UN at 70, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “The 70th anniversary of the United Nations is a timely opportunity to highlight its many and enduring achievements -- and to strengthen our collective resolve to do more to promote peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.”

UNAIDS has joined the international community and peoples of the world in the celebrations. Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, wished the organization a happy birthday and congratulated the UN on “70 years working for social justice and peace.”

UNAIDS will be represented at events worldwide, including the UN Open House in its host city of Geneva, Switzerland. A special event will take place on 24 October, UN Day, at the Palais des Nations and surrounding Ariana Park. Thousands are expected to visit the UN and learn about its work through stands, lectures, movie screenings, concerts and family activities.

In 2013, UNAIDS launched the Daily Development blog to explore, in the run up to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global development and the people behind it. The blog covered the whole range of development issues to be addressed by the SDGs—health, human rights, innovation, the arts, education, economics, the environment and more.

Both high-level policy-makers and people working on the ground in some of the world’s most difficult conditions were asked to give their stories. Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, spoke about her passion for ensuring that girls are educated. Edward Tommy, a journalist from Freetown in Sierra Leone, describes his experience of working at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in mid-2014. And Aidan McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery International, wrote about why there is still a need for an anti-slavery organization in the modern world. What unites those authors, and the dozens of other people we spoke to, is their commitment towards improving the lives of others—they were working towards achieving the 17 SDGs even before they were formulated.

Daily Development was founded as both a blog and a book project. With the adoption of the SDGs in New York in September the blog published its last post, but as the culmination of the project UNAIDS has published a book, telling the stories of all who we spoke to over the past two years.

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Despite significant achievements, too many of the world’s poorest children face inequalities that are having a dramatic impact on their health, education and future prospects, warns UNICEF in a report published on 23 June.

In Progress for children: beyond averages, the final report on child-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UNICEF highlights that millions of children and young people are still dying early, missing out on school, living in poverty and being disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic.

“The MDGs helped the world realize tremendous progress for children – but they also showed us how many children we are leaving behind,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “The lives and futures of the most disadvantaged children matter – not only for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, their communities and their societies,” he added.

The report acknowledges that huge strides have been made in attaining MDG 6–combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseses.  For instance, between 2001 and 2013 new HIV infections have declined by 58% in children under 15, mainly due to progress in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive has helped achieve a rapid expansion in the availability of antiretroviral medicines to pregnant women found to be living with HIV.

However, only 23% of HIV-positive children received such life-saving medicines in 2013 (compared to 37% of adults) and, in addition, adolescents aged 10-19 are the only group that has not seen a decrease in AIDS-related deaths in recent years.

The report also notes that about 35% of the 1.9 million people newly infected with HIV were young people aged 15-24. Adolescent girls are still most affected by HIV and in some countries are two to three times more likely to be infected than their male counterparts.

Progress for Children highlights a number of other such disparities and areas of deep concern across the spheres of health, education and income. It contends that as the era of the MDGs draws to a close, making way for preparations among world leaders to adopt new Sustainable Development Goals, disadvantaged children must be at the heart of these goals and targets.

The report also argues that better data collection, that tells a more rounded story and is not simply reliant on averages such as those used to measure the MDGs, will help identify the most vulnerable children and encourage tailor-made health and education solutions that help them to live longer, happier and healthier lives.

United Nations Member States welcomed and reflected on the latest HIV report of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, entitled Future of the AIDS response: building on past achievements and accelerating progress to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, at the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly on 8 June in New York, United States of America.

The Secretary-General’s report highlights important gains and historic breakthroughs in the global AIDS response since 2000. It also provides overview of some of the persisting challenges, including low paediatric and adolescent treatment coverage, lack of stable AIDS funding, gender inequalities, violence against women and vulnerable populations being left behind. United Nations Member States collectively echoed their support for the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. They also made several recommendations for leadership, resource mobilization, human rights, community engagement and civil society involvement to strengthen global efforts on health and development beyond 2015.

Attending the session, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures held discussions with Member State representatives. He stressed the need to maintain the momentum for the AIDS response during the transition to the sustainable development goals to ensure that no one is left behind.

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