BRUSSELS, 1 December 2023—On World AIDS Day, UNAIDS, Spain, as President of the Council of the European Union, and other partners called for the elimination of all HIV-related stigma and discrimination as a necessary step towards ending the AIDS pandemic as a global public health threat by 2030.

Speaking at the event held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Spain’s Minister of Health, Mónica García, re-affirmed Spain’s commitment to achieve zero HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

“We hope that this leadership of Spain for the elimination of all forms of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV will be maintained over the next 7 years to meet our goals by 2030,” said Ms Garcia.

The elimination of HIV-related stigma and discrimination has been a political priority of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union since July 2023. This was reflected in a high-level meeting on "HIV and Human Rights: Political Action to Achieve Zero Stigma" hosted by the Spanish Ministry of Health in September 2023 in Seville. At the event, Spain took the important step to officially join the Global Partnership for action to eliminate all forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, becoming the second EU country to join after Luxembourg.

At the event in Brussels, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Christine Stegling, thanked Spain for its leadership globally and in the European Union and said the world needed to act urgently to eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

“We’ve made impressive progress against HIV, but we have much work left to do,” said Ms Stegling, “Unless we succeed in ending AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, we will not be able to reach everyone in need. Stigma and discrimination against people most affected by HIV are the biggest barriers to accessing lifesaving HIV prevention and care. We look forward to working with European Union Member States, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, to take this agenda forward." 

As Spain steps down from its Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the end of December 2023 and as Belgium assumes the role, Ms. Stegling also expressed hope that Belgium will follow in Spain’s footsteps and continue to lead on this critical issue. She called on the whole of the European Union to join in global efforts to abolish AIDS-related stigma and discrimination to reach people who are currently being left behind in the response.

Around the world, some 9.2 million people living with HIV still do not have access to life-saving medicines. Every minute, a life is lost to AIDS. In 2022, 1.3 million people became newly infected with HIV. Many people most affected by HIV are being left behind, including adolescent girls and young women, gay men and men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, sex workers and migrants. These are the people who must be reached for AIDS to be ended as a public health threat by 2030.

Removing AIDS-related stigma, discrimination and criminalization will make it more possible to reach those currently being left behind. Political leadership in the European Union is key to achieving that goal.

Also critical for removing AIDS-related stigma and discrimination is community leadership. Ms. Stegling highlighted UNAIDS’ 2023 World AIDS Day report “Let Communities Lead” citing the need for governments and donors to fully empower and fund community leadership in the response to HIV.

Other speakers at the event included: Andrea Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; Peter Sands, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization's Regional Director for Europe and Kathleen van Brempt, MEP of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.  

The World AIDS Day event was co-hosted and moderated by Marc Angel, MEP from Luxembourg and vice-president of the European Parliament.  He said, “Representing my country, I extend my deepest appreciation to Spain for joining the Global Partnership for action to eliminate all forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination. As a UNAIDS Red Ribbon Leader for the “10-10-10" targets on societal enablers, I look forward to working closely with Spain, my own country, Luxembourg and, ideally, other EU Member States to end all forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the EU, across Europe and beyond.”

The 10-10-10 targets are:

• Less than 10% of countries have punitive legal and policy environments that deny access to justice
• Less than 10% of people living with HIV and key populations experience stigma and discrimination
• Less than 10% of women, girls, people living with HIV and key populations experience gender inequality and violence.

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.

GENEVA/HARARE, 4 December 2023— The world can end AIDS as a public health threat if communities on the frontlines of the HIV response are fully engaged and supported to do their work. This was the important message UNAIDS brought today to the opening of the 22nd International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), which is being held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 4-9 December.

Under the theme AIDS IS NOT OVER – participants will be calling for inequalities to be addressed and innovation to be accelerated to end AIDS. They will be urging for more support to community-led responses to deliver essential HIV services to people on the margins of society who are often hard to reach.

“AIDS is not over, and it continues to disproportionally affect the most marginalized in poor countries in Africa where some of the highest HIV burdens are found,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We have an amazing opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by supporting community led organizations to lead the way, and by tackling the drivers of HIV, such as inequalities and harmful laws,” added Ms Byanyima.

Around 66% of the 39 million people living with HIV live in Africa and some 51% of new HIV infections occurred on the continent, as did 61% of AIDS-related deaths.

Communities on the frontlines

Communities from South Africa to Thailand to Brazil waged the battles in the 1990’s and in the 2000’s to break pharmaceutical monopolies on access to HIV treatment. Their campaigning brought the price of these life-saving medicines down from US$ 25 000 per person per year in 1995 to as low as US$ 70 per person per year in many of the countries most affected by HIV.

Communities have been fighting to overturn laws that criminalize people most at risk of HIV. Several countries in Africa including Botswana, Angola, Gabon and just this year, Mauritius have overturned these harmful laws.

“Giving LGBTQI people the freedom to come forward and access the services they need to save their lives – this is community action,” said Ms Byanyima. “Communities have taken services right to the last person in the corners of the villages – they know who needs to be reached and they reach them.”

AIDS still claiming lives unnecessarily

While there is a clear path that ends AIDS, including through collaboration between governments and communities, AIDS claimed a life every minute in 2022. Globally 9.2 million people living with HIV do not have access to HIV treatment, just over half are in Africa where AIDS remains the fourth-leading cause of death. 

Women and girls are still disproportionally affected. In sub-Saharan Africa, 3100 young women and girls became infected with HIV every week in 2022. Across Africa 85% of new infections among adolescents (aged 10-19) are among adolescent girls and 15% among adolescent boys. For young people (aged 15-24) some 77% of new infections are among young women and 23% among young men. 

However, there is hope. There has been a decline in the number of people who were infected with HIV in 2022, showing that the end of AIDS is possible. The number of new infections represented the fewest people who acquired HIV in 2022 than at any point since the late 1980s. The biggest declines in annual new HIV infections in that period have been in eastern and southern Africa (57% reduction) and western and central Africa (49% reduction) since 2010 for both regions. 

In sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, are on the path that ends AIDS. In these countries, 95% of the people who are living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of the people who know that they are living with HIV are on life-saving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people who are on treatment are virally suppressed. When a person’s viral load is suppressed, HIV cannot be transmitted. A further 16 other countries are close to meeting these targets. 

Embrace science and innovation 

Communities drive innovation in the response to HIV. The innovation, passion and insight of communities are crucial to end AIDS. In Windhoek, Namibia, a self-funded project by the youth Empowerment Group is using e-bikes to deliver HIV medicines, food and adherence support to young people who often cannot attend clinics due to their schooling hours. 

Botswana’s success in reducing vertical transmission of HIV stems from its high coverage of HIV testing and treatment among women overall. Women living with HIV start antiretroviral therapy well before becoming pregnant, resulting in achieving and sustaining viral load suppression. That’s following the science.  

Ensure political support, sufficient sustainable funding for communities and innovation to end AIDS 

Despite existing and clear evidence that community-led responses have a positive impact, communities are not yet getting the recognition and the political and financial support they need, instead, communities are under-recognized and under-resourced and, in some places, even under attack.  

Underfunding of community-led initiatives is holding them back from operating and expansion. If these obstacles are removed, community-led organizations can add even greater impetus to the global HIV response, advancing progress towards the end of AIDS.  

In the 2021 Political Declaration on ending AIDS, United Nations member states recognized the critical role communities play in HIV service delivery, particularly to key populations. However, whereas in 2012, over 31% of all HIV resources were channelled through civil society organizations, in 2021, only 20% of funding for HIV was allocated for civil society—an unprecedented backsliding in commitments which is costing lives.   

“When community-led organizations are supported politically and financially to accelerate their life-saving work, the end result can be an end to AIDS as a public health threat,” said Ms Byanyima. “An AIDS-free world is possible, but only if communities lead.”

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.

As part of its ongoing support for ending AIDS in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Australian Government is investing up to AU$12 million in a new partnership supported by UNAIDS and Health Equity Matters. The funding will help local communities and governments in the region improve HIV prevention, testing and treatment while reducing stigma and discrimination.

"UNAIDS values Australia's long-standing partnership globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly its commitment to community leadership,” said Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Regional Director, Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. "By both increasing service access and lowering HIV-related stigma and discrimination, we can accelerate progress toward ending AIDS as a public health threat."

In her announcement of this partnership, marking World AIDS Day, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said, "Globally we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV, but there is still more to be done. It is critical that Australia supports communities in our region to end the HIV epidemic, including through sharing our own knowledge and experience."

Australia’s own national testing, treatment and viral suppression results are on track to reach the 95-95-95 targets by 2025. As of the end of 2021, 91% of people living with HIV were diagnosed, 92% of those diagnosed were on treatment and 98% of those on treatment were virally suppressed. “Among the factors contributing to Australia’s prevention, testing and treatment success is its historical bipartisan commitment to partnering with civil society in the HIV response,” Mr Murphy said. “It is this approach that we need to expand throughout the region.”

HIV infections in the region are not yet falling fast enough to meet vital targets, and there are rising epidemics in a number of countries including Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Philippines. Stigma and discrimination are contributing to the rise in new HIV infections, obstructing access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services for men who have sex with men. Community- and key population-led service delivery is a critical tool for reaching people, especially young people, not yet accessing services.

"The most effective way to treat and prevent HIV is to empower the people who most feel its impact,” stressed Health Equity Matters CEO, Adjunct Professor Darryl O'Donnell.

The initiative, currently still under development, reflects a new model of partnership with community organizations which UNAIDS highlighted in this year’s World AIDS Day report as critical to ending AIDS.

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.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, communities of people living with and affected by HIV have been at the forefront of ensuring the continuity of life-saving HIV services, both for those who remained in Ukraine and for those arriving in Germany as refugees.

At a special World AIDS Day event in Berlin co-hosted by UNAIDS and 100% Life Ukraine, community representatives and civil society activists thanked the German government and UNAIDS for their support and spoke about the continued challenges they face.

“Our journey exemplifies how the strength of perceived minorities and real community leadership can drive life-saving programmes and innovations that can impact the lives of millions of people,” said Valeriia Rachinska, Director of Human Rights, Gender and Communities at 100% LIFE Ukraine. “None of this would be possible without the support of international partners and donors. Global solidarity and support from our partners are the chance for a fair and thriving tomorrow for all, especially those living with HIV.”

100% LIFE is the largest patient-led organization in Ukraine which has as its mission to fight for life. The Network works with patients and for patients, including the representation of the interests of people living with HIV in 25 regions of Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Germany has donated €1,050,000 in emergency funding to UNAIDS, empowering the provision of critical support to people living with and affected by HIV in Ukraine, Poland and Moldova. This includes providing temporary accommodation, humanitarian assistance, social protection, primary health care and testing for HIV, hepatitis C, STIs and tuberculosis. The emergency fund also covered the enrollment of people in HIV prevention and treatment programmes, offering comprehensive care and support.

Among the speakers at the World AIDS Day event was Silke Klumb, CEO of the German AIDS Federation, who underlined the importance of the partnership between government and civil society in ensuring continued access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services for people affected by the war in Ukraine.

"Community-led responses have been and continue to be critical in the HIV response, both in Germany and globally. Thanks to public funding Deutsche Aidshilfe has been able to engage in community-led prevention, counselling, testing, care, and support for 40 years now. Upon this foundation and through the broad network in Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Germany’s community-led organizations under the umbrella of Deutsche Aidshilfe were able to act immediately to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” said Ms Klumb. ”Over the last 18 months, we provided support, information, translations to people fleeing the war and linked them to care. Platforms such as self-help conferences and other meetings helped to strengthen the communities of people living with and affected by HIV. Deutsche Aidshilfe is committed to continue putting the communities at the centre of our work.” 

During the event, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Knowledge, Christine Stegling, presented the new UNAIDS World AIDS Day report Let Communities Lead. The report shows how communities have been the driving force for progress in the global fight against HIV.  It shows that investing in community-led HIV programmes can have transformational benefits.

“Since the earliest days of the AIDS pandemic, community leadership has driven life-saving access to HIV treatment and prevention. Continued progress against HIV/AIDS in Ukraine - despite the war and its resulting refugee crisis - is the direct result of Ukrainian and German community leadership. A community-led response is well-positioned to maintain continuity of HIV prevention and treatment services, especially in times of crisis,” said Ms Stegling. “Continuity of HIV care is essential for achieving our ultimate goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. UNAIDS thanks all community leaders who stepped up in these challenging times and we thank nations like Germany who understand the value of investing in a community-led response to HIV/AIDS - especially in times of war and other crises.”

The event was moderated by Peter Wiessner of Action against AIDS Germany.

HIV opt-out testing will consolidate the gains towards HIV epidemic control in the UK

LONDON/GENEVA, 29 November 2023—Ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December) UNAIDS welcomes a new research project to potentially expand ‘opt-out’ HIV testing programmes across England. According to NHS figures, a pilot ‘opt-out’ HIV testing scheme, pioneered by the Elton John Foundation in England has identified more than 3,500 cases of three bloodborne infections since April 2022—HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C—including identifying more than 580 HIV cases of HIV.

Under pilot scheme in England, anyone having a blood test in selected hospital accident and emergency units has also been offered a test for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, and has been given the option to opt out should they not wish to have the test. The trials have been taking place in 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool.

"HIV opt-out testing will consolidate the gains towards HIV epidemic control in the UK," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "Normalization of HIV testing will not only enable timely access to HIV treatment, allowing people with HIV to live healthy lives—it will also stop new HIV infections and reduce the stigma around getting an HIV test. It will save and change lives and help ensure that no one is left behind."

People living with HIV who are on effective HIV treatment cannot transmit the virus. In the UNAIDS Global AIDS Strategy, UNAIDS has set “95-95-95” targets. Aiming for 95% of people who are living with HIV to know their HIV status, 95% of people who know that they are living with HIV to be on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people who are on treatment to be virally suppressed.

At least five countries, Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe have already achieved the “95-95-95” targets. A further 16 other countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region which accounts for 65% of all people living with HIV, are also close to doing so.

On 28 November, UNAIDS released its World AIDS Day report in London, UK urging governments to Let Communities Lead across the world to in ending AIDS. The report shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors. The Elton John Foundation is one of the many organizations supporting community action.

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.

A new report by UNAIDS demonstrates the critical role communities play, and how underfunding and harmful barriers are holding back their lifesaving work and obstructing the end of AIDS.

LONDON/GENEVA, 28 November 2023—As World AIDS Day (1 December) approaches, UNAIDS is urging governments across the world to unleash the power of grassroots communities across the world to lead the fight to end AIDS. A new report launched today by UNAIDS, Let Communities Lead, shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors.

“Communities across the world have shown that they are ready, willing and able to lead the way. But they need the barriers obstructing their work to be pulled down, and they need to be properly resourced,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Too often, communities are treated by decision-makers as problems to be managed, instead of being recognised and supported as leaders. Communities are not in the way, they light the way to the end of AIDS.”

The report, launched in London during a World AIDS Day event organized by the civil society organization STOPAIDS, shows how communities have been the driving force for progress.

Community advocacy from the streets to the courtrooms to parliaments has secured groundbreaking changes in policy. Communities’ campaigning helped open up access to generic HIV medicines, leading to sharp, sustained reductions in the cost of treatment from US$ 25 000 per person per year in 1995 to less than US$ 70 in many countries most affected by HIV today.

Let Communities Lead shows that investing in community-led HIV programmes delivers transformational benefits. It sets out how programmes delivered by community-based organizations in Nigeria were associated with a 64% increase in access to HIV treatment, a doubling of the likelihood of HIV prevention service utilization, and a four-fold increase in consistent condom use among people at risk of HIV. It also notes how, among sex workers reached by a package of peer-based services in the United Republic of Tanzania, the HIV incidence rate was reduced to below half (5% vs 10.4%).

“We are the vehicle for change that can end systematic injustices that continue to fuel HIV transmission. We have seen groundbreaking developments with U=U, improved access to medicines, and have made great strides in decriminalisation," said Robbie Lawlor, Co-Founder of Access to Medicines Ireland. “Yet, we are expected to move mountains without being financially supported. We are supposed to fight for a more equitable world and are tasked with dismantling stigma yet are side-lined in crucial discussions. We are at a tipping point. Communities can no longer be relegated to the periphery. The time for leadership is now.”

The report highlights how communities are at the forefront of innovation. In Windhoek, Namibia, a self-funded project by the youth Empowerment Group is using e-bikes to deliver HIV medicines, food and adherence support to young people who often cannot attend clinics due to their schooling hours. In China, community organizations developed smartphone apps that link people to self-testing which contributed to a more than four-fold increase in HIV tests across the country from 2009 to 2020.

The report reveals how communities are also holding service providers to account. In South Africa five community networks of people living with HIV inspected 400 sites across 29 districts and conducted more than 33 000 interviews with people living with HIV. In the Free State province, these findings led provincial health officials to implement new appointment protocols to reduce clinic wait times and three- and six-month dispensing of antiretroviral medicines.

“I am extremely concerned about the exclusion from health services of key populations like the LGBT+ community,” said Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for Development and Africa. “The UK champions the rights of such communities, and we will continue to protect them, working closely with our partners in civil society. I thank UNAIDS for keeping us focused on the inequities driving the pandemic and I look forward to working with our partners to champion the voice of people living with HIV and end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”

Despite the clear evidence of community-led impact, community-led responses are unrecognized, under-resourced and in some places even under attack. Crackdowns on civil society and on the human rights of marginalized communities are obstructing communities from providing HIV prevention and treatment services. Underfunding of community-led initiatives is leaving them struggling to continue operating and holding them back from expansion. If these obstacles are removed, community-led organizations can add even greater impetus to end AIDS.

In the 2021 Political Declaration on ending AIDS, United Nations member states recognized the critical role communities play in HIV service delivery, particularly to people most at risk of HIV. However, whereas in 2012, when over 31% of HIV funding was channelled through civil society organizations, ten years later, in 2021, only 20% of funding for HIV was available—an unprecedented backsliding in commitments which has cost and is continuing to cost lives.

“At this time, community-led action is the most important countermeasure in the AIDS response,” said Solange Baptiste, Executive Director of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. “Yet, shockingly, it isn’t a cornerstone of global plans, agendas, strategies, or financing mechanisms for improving pandemic preparedness and health for all. It is time to change that.”

Every minute, a life is lost to AIDS. Every week, 4000 girls and young women become infected with HIV, and out of the 39 million people living with HIV, 9.2 million do not have access to lifesaving treatment. There is a Path that Ends AIDS and AIDS can be ended by 2030, but only if communities lead.

UNAIDS is calling for: Communities’ leadership roles to be made core in all HIV plans and programmes; Communities’ leadership roles to be fully and reliably funded; And for barriers to communities’ leadership roles to be removed.

The report features nine guest essays from community leaders, in which they share their experience on the achievements they have secured, the barriers they face, and what the world needs to end AIDS as a public health threat.

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.

1 December 2023 

World AIDS Day arrives at a defining moment.

AIDS-related deaths have fallen by almost 70 per cent since their peak in 2004, and new HIV infections are at the lowest point since the 1980s.

But AIDS still takes a life every minute.

We can — and must — end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. 

Reaching this goal means heeding this year’s theme: Let Communities Lead.

The path to ending AIDS runs through communities.

From connecting people to the treatment, services and support they need — to the grassroots activism pushing for action so all people can realize their right to health.

Supporting those on the frontlines of the battle against AIDS is how we win.

That means placing community leadership at the centre of HIV plans, programmes, budgets and monitoring efforts. 

We must also remove barriers to community leadership, and ensure space for local civil society groups to take forward their vital work.

Above all, we need funding.

The AIDS response in low and middle-income countries needs over 8 billion dollars more per year to be fully funded.

This must include scaled-up funding for local programmes led by people living with HIV, and prevention initiatives led by communities.

AIDS is beatable.

Let’s finish the job by supporting communities to end this scourge in their neighbourhoods, their countries and around the world.

UNAIDS Statement on the International Day to End Violence Against Women and the Launch of 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence: Unite! Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

What will it take for the world to end gender-based violence?

The answer is crystal clear: governments must empower and fund women-led organizations worldwide. We must let communities lead.

One in three women worldwide has experienced violence, often from someone she knows. Women who experience violence are also more at risk for HIV. As Ayu Oktariani of the Indonesian Positive Women Network says, “The perception that women living with HIV are ‘bad women’ makes people normalize violence against them.”

Gender-based violence has indeed become normalized across the globe. Yet it is a gross violation of human rights on an epic scale. As such, it requires an epic response.

But today, a staggering one in five countries worldwide has no laws providing enforceable penalties against gender-based violence.  And only 1 percent of gender-focused government aid is directed to women-led organizations.   

It is time for governments to recognize violence against women for the crime it is and increase funding for those who know best how to tackle it at its roots – women-led organizations.  

Across the globe, women-led organizations are on the ground, providing support to women at risk, advocating for policy change, and shifting societal attitudes toward marginalized groups of women such as sex workers, trans women, lesbians, and women with HIV. Research shows that the single most critical factor driving both global and domestic policy change in ending violence against women and girls is the presence of a strong and autonomous feminist movement.  

Millions of women worldwide are actively engaged in ending gender-based violence. For example, in Haiti, Refuge des Femmes d'Haiti supports women and girls affected by gang violence in Port-au-Prince. In Peru, Miluska Vida y Dignidad and Trans Organizacion Feminista help cis and transgender sex workers by training police and providing legal aid and other services. In Zimbabwe, SASA! mobilizes communities to respond to HIV-related violence towards women.    

Many of these women work as volunteers or for low pay in organizations that are often under-funded and with insecure financial futures. It is time to stop our reliance on the good will of women to make change happen in the face of violence against them. 

UNAIDS calls upon governments and international agencies to support and invest in women’s rights and service organizations – the unsung heroes of the movement to end gender-based violence – at levels that reflect the enormity of this pandemic of violence.

This is key to ending violence against women and girls in all their diversity. It is also key to ending AIDS.

Holy Disrupters: Interviews with Religious Leaders and advocates on HIV and Compassion

Reverend Godson Dogbéda Téyi LAWSON KPAVUVU, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Togo

UNAIDS speaks to Reverend Godson about his work on HIV and about some of the challenges he is facing

What was your experience working on HIV in the early days?

I had been studying abroad and when I came back in 1992I found that members of my community were dying. But people weren’t talking about what was causing it, they were giving it nick names. It was of course AIDS. During a pastoral meeting I spoke with the Bishop who told me, ‘young man, this thing is a sin, you can’t talk about it openly here, the community won’t accept it’.  

This was until two or three years later when some of our colleagues from the church became sick and were dying of AIDS. I went back to the bishop and said now we have to talk about HIV. So, I created a small group and I joined up with the association of people living with HIV in Lomé – it was a safe space where people living with HIV could speak openly.

“Young man this thing is a sin, you can’t talk about it openly here, the community won’t accept it.”

We began to advocate with the government, working with the association and with churches and religious leaders in the country. But theologically, HIV was still spoken about as a sin, so if theologically the narrative isn’t correct, it will damage the whole process. So we corrected the narrative to make it clear that HIV is a virus, not a sin. This was the starting point.

“HIV is a virus, not a sin - this was the starting point.”

From then we created small teams within the communities to support people living with HIV and especially to support the families. To break down the stigma we had to start with the families and then the communities. We published books for academics so they could use them to teach, and we trained the young pastors.

Your work with key populations is well known – how did this come about?

I realized the importance of working with key populations when my uncle died in 2000. He was a gay man who contracted and died of AIDS.  I drew on my personal experience with my own family to start working with key populations.

“My uncle died in 2000. He was a gay man who contracted and died of AIDS.”

Today the government has put in place a framework to ensure that everyone living with HIV has access to treatment, but there is still a lot of stigma and discrimination. The loudest voices who have been speaking out are women, the mothers who are saying these are our children, how can we discriminate against our own children. So, we have engaged them in our efforts to break down the stigma around HIV and around key populations.

How has your work changed today?

Treatment is there, Togo has a plan for treatment and treatment is free of charge. But a real issue is adherence and how people can maintain their treatment within the communities amidst the ongoing stigma. We are training mentors and supporting volunteers to encourage people to stay on treatment.  It’s how best to support people in their families and within their communities.

“Togo has a plan for treatment and treatment is free of charge. But a real issue is adherence”

The human and social dynamics around HIV in Africa are complex. We have three generations now of children who are living with HIV, many who have been orphaned because of epidemic and having to explain to them that their parents loved them and didn’t want to pass on the virus, this can be hard. I have had experience with young people who have attempted to take their own lives because it’s too much for them, and we are there, the church is there to support them.

“I have had experience with young people who have attempted to take their own lives because it’s too much for them”

We are due to end AIDS among children in Africa by 2025 but to do this we are facing many challenges, not just access to testing and treatment, it’s about poverty, local contexts, social conflicts, military coups and migration. But if you put paediatric HIV at the top and give faith leaders the opportunity to organize women’s desks and children’s activities around that we can start educating children and young people about HIV, how to prevent it and they can have their own language to communicate among themselves.

I’m asking my colleagues from the religious communities to come to the forefront of the fight against AIDS and to integrate HIV into their messages especially around ending AIDS among children in Africa. 

Holy Disrupters: Interviews with Religious Leaders and advocates on HIV and Compassion

Professor Mohamed Karama, working with Islamic Relief on the HIV programme, Kenya

UNAIDS speaks to Professor Mohamed Karama about confronting stigma and his concerns for the future

How has the faith community engaged in the response to HIV?

I am a researcher with the Kenya Medical Research Institute and my background is from the Muslim community. Faith communities have become increasingly engaged, first with HIV then with COVID, and now the faith community are part and parcel of not only health but many other government programmes.

How big of a problem is HIV-related stigma among the Muslim community and how do you deal with that?

Stigma has been very high amongst Muslims because for many years there has been a misconception that HIV is one of the punishments for wrongdoing.  

To address the challenges of stigma we have had to address it from the Islamic scriptures and from the teachings of faith. This is what we have been doing for the last few years, and although stigma still remains, we have been able to break down some of the barriers this way.

“For many years there has been a misconception that HIV is one of the punishments for wrongdoing”

We have been teaching how God prohibits judgement of others, we should never see ourselves as holier than others and we should support the sick. From the Islamic scriptures God says, “I was sick, you didn’t visit me, I was hungry, you didn’t feed me, I was undressed, you didn’t clothe me.” And the people reply, “but you are God how can we do that?”

God says “Your brother was sick, you never visited him, if you had visited him you would have found me there. Your brother was naked, if you had clothed him you would have found me there, your brother was hungry, if you had fed him you would have found me there.” Allah says have mercy on those who live with you on earth so that he the great can have mercy on you as well.

These teachings are very strong, they discourage stigmatization, they discourage looking negatively at the sick, any sickness, HIV included.

What’s the biggest challenge you are facing in Kenya at the moment?

Young people 15 to 24 are sexually very active and increasingly liberalized, unlike before where social containment was very heavy, now it’s no longer the case. So we have to reactivate our HIV prevention programmes and re-strategize how to deal with these new dynamics.

What concerns you about the future?

I want to start with PEPFAR (the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), I’m an epidemiologist and I think that if we slack a little we are likely to lose the momentum, and losing the momentum might be too expensive to rebuild—too expensive to rebuild the motion and to sustain the momentum. The progress we have made in the last 40 years cannot be lost, so much has been achieved to date we mustn’t lose it.

“Losing the momentum might be too expensive to rebuild”

(concerning the reauthorization of PEPFAR)

What can the United Nations do better?

The United Nations also needs to work more closely together as partners with the faith-based community, the technical experts and the researchers. That way not only can we address HIV, but we can also address other pandemics that are likely to come in the future.