The Government of Japan, along with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), convened a follow-up meeting on 2-3 June 2011 in Tokyo to discuss the outcomes of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit that took place in September 2010.

With less than five years remaining before 2015, the target year for achieving the MDGs, the meeting brought together high level delegations from more than 100 countries and international organizations, and provided a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge, as well as to discuss more effective measures to strengthen coordination among a broad range of stakeholders.

The meeting was opened by H.E. Prime Minister Kan, who expressed deep appreciation for the solidarity shown by the international community in the wake of the unprecedented earthquakes and tsunami on 11 March 2011. Mr Kan also assured the audience that Japan remains committed to the achievement of MDGs.

Mr Takeaki Matsumoto, Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, underlined this commitment saying, “Japan remains fully dedicated to carrying out faithfully the international commitments it has expressed in the past to achieving the MDGs.”

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Programme, Paul De Lay took part in the meeting and also participated in one of the several side events, titled Preparing the health systems for the challenges beyond MDGs.

“UNAIDS has called for taking HIV out of isolation. At the High Level Meeting on AIDS next week, one of the major themes will be “integration”, including exploring synergies between HIV programmes and preventing and caring for non-communicable diseases,” said Dr De Lay.

The event, moderated by Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert, Senior Advisor on Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, included presentations from Michel D. Kazatchkine, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Dr Mickey Chopra, Chief, Health Section, Program Division, UNICEF; and Dr Kenji Shibuya, Professor and Chair, Department of Global Health Policy Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo.

Coming just days before the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, the meeting enabled participants to exchange their good practices and also learn from others about projects and programmes focused on hard-to-reach regions and groups. Participants also discussed the “way forward” beyond 2015, using lessons learned in the decade under the current MDGs.

During his visit to Japan Dr De Lay also met with Dr Masato Mugitani, Assistant Minister for Global Health, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Mr Masaya Fujiwara, Deputy Director-General for Global Issues of the International Cooperation Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Japan’s active participation in the UN High Level Meeting, especially regarding prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Dr DeLay also met with civil society representatives who will attend the General Assembly event. 

In key bilateral meetings held on the eve of the 63rd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS engaged ministers of health from leading countries on how investments in AIDS can be used to leverage progress towards the other Millennium Develop Goals (MDGs).

During a meeting with Chen Zhu, Minister of Health of China, and Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health of South Africa, Michel Sidibé cited these two countries as leading examples of the AIDS plus MDG agenda. “China and South Africa are leading examples of how national leadership on AIDS can accelerate broader goals for health and development.”

Michel Sidibé congratulated Minister Zhu for China’s recent decision to lift HIV-related travel restrictions prior to the opening of Expo 2010 in Shanghai. “Every individual should have equal access to freedom of movement,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “This is a powerful signal that foreigners who wish to visit, work and live in China are welcome—regardless of their HIV status.”

Michel Sidibé also praised Minister Motsoaledi for South Africa’s leadership in response to HIV. “With the launch of the National HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, South Africa has launched the world’s largest AIDS initiative that integrates HIV with larger public health goals.” said Sidibé. On 25 April, South Africa’s President Zuma launched South Africa’s National HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, which aims to voluntarily test 15 million South Africans for HIV in coming months. According to Minister Motsoaledi, “the HIV Counselling & Testing campaign also offers people taking HIV tests the incentive of free screening for hypertension, blood sugar levels, haemoglobin, TB and cervical cancer.”

UNAIDS is collaborating with China and South Africa on the development of the ‘AIDS plus MDG agenda,’ which aims to position the AIDS movement as a force for accelerating progress towards the MDGs. UNAIDS is developing plans for a high-level side event on AIDS plus MDGs during the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals in September 2010 that will be co-hosted by the Governments of China and South Africa.

In another meeting, Michel Sidibé met with Dr Jose Gomes Temporao, Minister of Health of Brazil. Brazil is recognized by UNAIDS for having been one of the first countries to achieve universal access to treatment. “Brazil is a model to other countries in its national response to AIDS,” said Michel Sidibé. “Brazil has also demonstrated how AIDS has strengthen the national health system, and the fight for equality and human rights.” Mr Sidibé and Dr Temporao also discussed how Brazil has used HIV to advance the use of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) to increase access to essential health commodities. They also agreed feature the results of a 10-year assessment of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and HIV in Brazil later this year.

The UN climate change summit taking place in Copenhagen marks a global effort to forge a new deal to curb climate change. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the world stood at the crossroads between a sustainable future and a path to catastrophe. “Now is the moment to act,” he told a news conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

“Seldom in history has a choice been so clear. We can move toward a future of sustainable green growth, or we can continue down the road to ruin. We can act on climate change now, or we can leave it to our children and grandchildren – a debt that can never be paid, that threatens our planet and its people,” he added.

Around 15,000 participants from 192 countries representing governments, UN participants, the business community, and civil society have gathered for the largest international political conference ever held in Denmark.

The final high-level segment of the summit will begin this evening and is due to be attended by around 120 heads of state and government and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Secretary-General will host a breakfast meeting tomorrow for United Nations system heads. UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé will be in attendance and will also participate in the High-level Chief Executive Board side event later in the day.

Any meaningful response to climate change must involve a strong participation by civil society and other key stakeholders, including the private sector, working hand-in-hand with national health authorities and the United Nations.

“Just as the AIDS response requires all partners from governments to civil society and the private sector to work together—so must we work together to reach goals in addressing climate change,” said Mr Michel Sidibé.

The partnerships of the AIDS response can serve as models for the types of response that will be required in adapting to climate change-related health, social and economic development challenges.

The response to climate change must ensure that the countries and communities that are most threatened are at the core of all thinking and planning. In the case of AIDS, it was the most affected communities—represented by civil society—that were able to generate the social engagement that galvanized political support, increased financing, improved accountability and tailored specific responses.

During the quest to tackle climate change, much can be learned from the solutions derived by the AIDS response as it has confronted crises and often transformed societies in the process.

The State of the World’s Children 2007 report published on 11 December by UNAIDS Cosponsor UNICEF underlines that empowering women is pivotal to the health and development of families, communities and nations.

The report emphasizes the fact that gender inequality and the low status of women in society are two of the principal drivers of HIV. Latest data show that women now make up 48% of all people living with HIV, and the proportion of women infected with HIV is increasing in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by AIDS, 60% of all adults and three out of four young people living with the virus are female.

“When women are empowered to lead full and productive lives, children and families prosper,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.

Despite progress in women’s status in recent decades, the lives of millions of girls and women are overshadowed by discrimination, disempowerment and poverty. Girls and women are disproportionately affected by AIDS and women in most places earn less than men for equal work. Millions of women throughout the world are subject to physical and sexual violence, with little recourse to justice. As a result of discrimination, girls are less likely to attend school; nearly one out of every five girls who enroll in primary school in developing countries does not complete a primary education. Education levels among women, says the report, correlate with improved outcomes for child survival and development.

“If we care about the health and well-being of children today and into the future, we must work now to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities to be educated, to participate in government, to achieve economic self-sufficiency and to be protected from violence and discrimination,” Veneman said.

The AIDS epidemic illustrates all too vividly how much needs to be done to overcome the social, cultural and economic factors that put women at risk of HIV and that unduly burden them with the epidemic’s consequences.

“Governments have made repeated commitments to improve the status of women and acknowledged the linkage with HIV,” said Sarah Russell of the UNAIDS-led Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. “In some areas, they have made progress. But by and large, efforts have been small-scale and haphazard. There is an urgent need for more systematic approaches.”

The State of the World’s Children shows how promoting gender equality and empowering women – Millennium Development Goal number 3 – will propel all of the other goals, from reducing poverty and hunger to saving children’s lives, improving maternal health, ensuring universal education, combating AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability.

“UNICEF’s new report calls for seven key interventions to empower women,” noted Russell.

A roadmap to gender equality

• Education : Key actions include abolishing school fees and encouraging parents and communities to invest in girls’ education.
• Financing : Little recognition has been given to the resources needed to meet the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Investment to eliminate gender discrimination must be integrated into government budgets and plans.
• Legislation : National legislation in property law and inheritance rights should ensure a level playing field for women, alongside measures to prevent and respond to domestic violence and gender-based violence in conflict.
• Legislative quotas : Quotas are a proven method of ensuring women’s participation in politics. Of the 20 countries with the most women in parliament, 17 use some form of quota system.
• Women empowering women : Grassroots women’s movements have been vocal champions for equality and empowerment and should be involved in the early stages of policy formation so that programmes are designed with the needs of women and children in mind.
• Engaging men and boys : Educating men and boys, as well as women and girls, on the benefits of gender equality and joint decision-making can help nurture more cooperative relationships.
• Improved research and data : Better data and analysis are critical, especially on maternal mortality, violence against women, education, employment, wages, unpaid work and time use, and participation in politics.

“Immediate and sustained action on all seven tracks will be critical if the world is to make meaningful progress towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” she added.

Significant progress towards reducing child and maternal mortality is being made but to meet the Millennium Development Goals 4,5,6, strategies aimed at reaching the world’s most inaccessible, marginalized and vulnerable populations will be required, health leaders said today.

GENEVA, 1 March 2013— The United Nations Secretary-General has appointed Ray Chambers as the first Special Envoy for Financing the Health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As part of his expanded role, Mr Chambers will promote increased investment by the public and private sectors for the AIDS response.

As an early partner in UNAIDS’ effort to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015, Mr Chambers has brought visibility and new partnerships to support this global plan of action. 

“With less than a 1000 days to go before the agreed deadline for achieving the MDGs, we need leaders like Ray to help us reach our goals,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Ray has done an extraordinary job achieving results for Malaria and I know he will do the same for HIV.”

A long time philanthropist, Mr Chambers retains his mandate on malaria. In January he joined the Board of Directors of GBCHealth as Co-Chair. Mr Chambers has served as one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates since 2010.