GENEVA, 1 July 2016—At its 38th meeting, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board has stressed the need for accelerated action, increased investment, intensified partnerships and innovation in community-led service delivery to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The meeting took place just weeks after the adoption by United Nations Member States of a new Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, which called on countries to Fast-Track their response to HIV over the coming years to reach a set of measurable targets by 2020. Achieving these targets is critical to putting the world on course to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

In his opening address, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, described the Political Declaration agreed in New York as bold, ambitious, forward-looking and balanced. He said success in reaching the Political Declaration’s targets required an inclusive approach that left no one behind, respect for everyone’s right to access quality sexual and reproductive health and rights, innovative and appropriate implementation of programmes and services to meet the needs of variously affected regions and key populations and increased and front-loaded investments for the AIDS response.

“The commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 must be underpinned by the full respect for people’s human rights, including their access to quality sexual and reproductive health and rights,” said Mr Sidibé. “The involvement of people living with and affected by the epidemic is essential in implementing an effective and fully funded response rooted in the community and in ensuring a strong interface between service providers and people most affected by HIV.”

The Board also approved a revised Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) for 2016–2021 and emphasized the importance of the Joint Programme in translating the UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy into action at the national, regional and global levels. However, there remains a shortfall of 30% in 2016 between funding commitments made to date and the resources required to fully implement the Strategy in support of people living with or affected by HIV. The Board encouraged donor governments to make multi-year contributions towards the 2016–2021 UBRAF and urged UNAIDS to continue expanding its donor base. During the meeting, the United States of America announced it intended to extend its agreement with UNAIDS for an additional five years, and as part of this extension, intended to further its funding collaboration with UNAIDS.

During the dedicated thematic day, the Board further explored the key role of communities in ending AIDS by 2030, with governments urged to leverage the skills, knowledge and experience of civil society to maximize impact. There was broad consensus that there would be no end to the AIDS epidemic by 2030 without sustained and intensified investment in community-led responses to the epidemic in regions and among groups of people most affected, including sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people and prisoners.

Representatives of Member States, international organizations, civil society and nongovernmental organizations attended the meeting, which was chaired by Switzerland. Ghana served as Vice-Chair and Ecuador as Rapporteur.

The UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the Board and the Board’s decisions can be found at unaids.org.

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 new Political Declaration adopted by United Nations Member States charts a course to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 10 June 2016—United Nations Member States have committed to implementing a bold agenda to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, held in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June. The progressive, new and actionable Political Declaration includes a set of specific, time-bound targets and actions that must be achieved by 2020 if the world is to get on the Fast-Track and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS was convened by the President of the General Assembly and co-facilitated by Switzerland and Zambia. At the opening, the President of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, urged Member States to commit to action.

“All stakeholders must now step up to the plate. Today is the day that we collectively say that we will end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” said Mr Lykketoft. “We must pay greater attention to equality and inclusion, uphold human rights and speak out against stigma and discrimination.”

During the opening plenary, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said that the AIDS response had been a “source of innovation and inspiration,” and the Executive Director of UNAIDS outlined the progress made in recent years, with 17 million people accessing antiretroviral treatment and significant declines in AIDS-related deaths and new HIV-infections among children.

"For the first time in history we can say that in Africa there are more people initiating HIV treatment than there are new HIV infections,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. He also underlined the importance of inclusion, saying, “The doors of the United Nations should be open to all.”

Among many of the civil society representatives who participated in and spoke at the meeting, Loyce Maturu, a young woman living with HIV from Zimbabwe, shared her inspiring story during the opening plenary about growing up living with HIV. "I want young people living with HIV to be able to realize their dreams and hopes for the future," she said.

Ndaba Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, spoke passionately about his own family’s experience of HIV and urged everyone present to stand together to end AIDS by 2030. “I'm here to ask you to continue the legacy of my grandfather, Nelson Mandela: a legacy of unity and leadership.”

In addition to the plenary sessions around 600 participants, including 10 Heads of State and Government and more than 60 ministers, people living with HIV, representatives of civil society, representatives of international organizations and the private sector, scientists and researchers took part in five official panels and more than 30 side events to translate the new Political Declaration into action and results.  

The five official panels were under the following themes:

• AIDS within the Sustainable Development Goals: leveraging the end of AIDS for social transformation and sustainable development.
• Financing and sustaining the end of AIDS: the window of opportunity.
• Getting ahead of the looming treatment crisis: an action agenda for getting to 90–90–90.
• Leaving no one behind: ending stigma and discrimination through social justice and inclusive societies.
• Children, adolescent girls and young women: preventing new HIV infections.

Participants called for access to comprehensive sexuality education and harm reduction services as well as strengthening outreach to young women and adolescent girls and key populations, including men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender people and prisoners as well as migrants.

During the High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, major announcements were made in support of ending the epidemic by 2030.

The United States of America announced the launch of a new US$ 100 million Key Populations Investment Fund to increase access to HIV services for sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people and prisoners. The new fund will focus on reducing stigma and discrimination, empowering community leadership in the design and delivery of services and increasing the quality of data on key populations.

Yusuf K. Hamied, Chair of the Indian pharmaceutical company CIPLA, announced a package of assistance to African countries to facilitate the local production of medicines in Africa.   

UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) released a final report on the progress made since the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive was launched at the last United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, in 2011.

There has been a 60% decline in new HIV infections among children since 2009 in the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have been most affected by the epidemic. To build on the enormous progress made in stopping new HIV infections among children, UNAIDS, PEPFAR and partners released a framework for ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women—Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS-Free. The initiative sets ambitious targets to eliminate new infections among children, ensure access to treatment for all children living with HIV and prevent new HIV infections among adolescents and young women in order to put the world on a path to ending the AIDS epidemic among young women, adolescents and children.

Armenia, Belarus and Thailand joined Cuba in receiving official certificates of validation from the World Health Organization for eliminating new HIV infections among children. Thailand is the first country with a major HIV epidemic (450 000 people living with HIV in 2014) to receive such validation.

Events were held on the wider health agenda, including learning the lessons learned from responding to emerging epidemics, such as AIDS, Ebola and Zika, and on empowering adolescent girls and young women to access integrated health-care services, which was organized by the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS.

During the week of the meeting, several supporting events took place across New York. The Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, convened around 30 mayors at the New York City Public Library to discuss how they are getting on the Fast-Track to end AIDS in cities. They also shared how smart cities are implementing urban innovations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

In partnership with the Xinhua news agency, a billboard showcasing the UNAIDS Fast-Track response to ending AIDS ran in the city’s iconic Times Square. There was also an interfaith service and a number of events that focused on the importance of women’s involvement in leadership roles in the AIDS response.

On the eve of the High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, fashion designer and amfAR chair Kenneth Cole was named as an International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS. UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox took part in events throughout the week.

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.

On 8 April, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, convened an informal session to brief United Nations Member States on the 2016 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, which will take place in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June 2016.

During the session, the Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, Jan Beagle, presented the United Nations Secretary-General’s report, On the Fast-Track to end the AIDS epidemic. The report highlights that ending the AIDS epidemic is possible by 2030, but only if a Fast-Track approach is taken over the next five years. United Nations Member States welcomed the report and expressed strong support for efforts to Fast-Track the response and end the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The session was presided over by the President of the General Assembly and the two co-facilitators of the High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS—Patricia Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations, and Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations.

Representatives of 115 Member States attended the session, many at ambassadorial level. The participants highlighted the need to adopt a bold Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, stating that it would be essential to enabling a Fast-Track approach.

The President of the General Assembly also briefed Member States on the Informal Interactive Civil Society Hearing, which took place on 6 April, and called on Member States to extend full support to civil society participation at the High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS. He also stressed that the meeting provided a critical opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Dr Kasese-Bota closed the meeting by noting that she and her fellow co-facilitator are extremely encouraged by Member States’ expressions of support. Feedback from this meeting and from the civil society hearing will be used to inform the zero draft of the United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS.

Quotes

Projected price drops for life-saving HIV treatment and streamlined delivery are driving down costs—investment needs for 2020 are US$ 26 billion

GENEVA, 1 April 2016—Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, UNAIDS announced new investment needs to Fast-Track the AIDS response. The projected need of US$ 26.2 billion in 2020 is down from a previous estimate of US$ 30 billion. New findings suggest that the world can reach ambitious Fast-Track targets for preventing new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths and discrimination with fewer resources.

“Under the Fast-Track approach the world is driving down costs quickly to close the gap between people who have services and people being left behind,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Urgently and fully funding and front-loading investments will save lives and lead us to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

The new UNAIDS reference document entitled Fast-Track—update on investments needed in the AIDS response explains improvements to the investment model with critical new inputs from the revised 2015 World Health Organization guidelines on HIV treatment. The guidelines recommend HIV treatment for all people living with HIV to reduce illness and deaths, which will increase the total cost of treatment. The guidelines also recommend streamlining care and support services that will contribute to lower costs per patient per year compared to earlier guidelines while retaining quality standards.

Other inputs include new evidence that projects lower costs for HIV medicines and supplies particularly in high burden countries that will further offset the increased investment associated with expanded treatment coverage.

Failure to Fast-Track would translate into an additional 17.6 million HIV infections worldwide and an additional 10.8 million AIDS-related deaths globally between 2016 and 2030.

“The cost of inaction is too high. We have a real opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” said Mr Sidibé. “If we do not quicken the pace of action, millions of people will die needlessly. Failure to Fast-Track risks prolonging the epidemic indefinitely.”

Global solidarity and shared responsibility

The report shows that countries from all economic levels will be required to invest more. Resources available for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries were US$ 19.2 billion in 2014. The new projections in the report show that combined domestic and international investment in HIV will need to increase by about one third, to US$ 26.2 billion in 2020. After this peak, projected investments steadily decrease to US$ 22.3 billion in 2030. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced that it requires US$ 13 billion from 2017 to 2019 to close the investment gap for the three diseases.

To reach the Fast-Track targets, total annual international assistance for HIV must increase by US$ 2.8 billion compared with 2014 levels. This includes an additional US$ 1.8 billion for low-income countries and an additional US$ 1.9 billion for lower-middle-income countries, while upper-middle-income countries' international assistance declines. The remaining annual international investment in upper-middle-income countries of US$ 0.5 billion in 2020 is required for countries with a particularly high burden of HIV, and challenges are expected regarding the transition to self-reliance and the provision of services to key populations.

Building on the principles of global solidarity and shared responsibility, the report includes the results of an analysis of the fiscal space of Fast-Track countries. This analysis indicates that the largest potential increase in future financing for the AIDS response could be achieved by increasing domestic health budgets, with the allocation for HIV services proportional to national disease burden. This would enable the majority of countries to finance the Fast Track approach. However, countries with the lowest income and highest burden of HIV will continue to require international support.

Investing in communities

Greater investment in civil society and community-based service delivery is critical to the Fast-Track approach. Outreach to key populations in low- and middle-income countries should grow to 7.2% of total investments by 2020, and the estimated resource needs for community-based delivery of antiretroviral therapy should grow to 3.8% of total investment. Social enablers—including advocacy, political mobilization, law and policy reform, human rights, and stigma reduction—should reach 8% of total expenditure by 2020.

Investment needs for HIV prevention—including condom promotion, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, pre-exposure prophylaxis, voluntary medical male circumcision and a proportion of outreach to key populations—increase from US$ 4.5 billion in 2016 to US$ 7.3 billion in 2020.

Data show early indications that country adoption of the Fast-Track approach is working. Since 2012, levels of HIV service coverage have increased and over the same time period there has been a decline in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. Between the end of 2012 and the end of 2014, HIV treatment coverage increased by 3.6 million (37%) and the annual coverage of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV increased by 140 000 (16%) in low- and middle-income countries. During the same time period, annual coverage of voluntary medical male circumcision increased by 1.4 million (82%) in 14 priority countries.

Ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

The new projections bring the world closer to the Sustainable Development Goal target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The annual global number of new HIV infections will fall by nearly 90% compared to 2010, and AIDS-related deaths will fall by 79% compared to 2010. Scientific advances in the next few years are expected to push future projections to attain the targeted 90% reduction in AIDS-related deaths.

The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Fast-Track Strategy has established a set of three people-centred goals and 10 measurable targets that must be met by 2020 to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. This includes achieving the 90–90–90 treatment target for 2020 whereby 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment to have suppressed viral loads. Other targets include zero infections among children and that 90% of women and men, especially young people and people living in high-prevalence settings, have access to HIV combination prevention and sexual and reproductive health services. The targets are firmly based on an approach that leaves no one behind and that is grounded in human rights. If achieved, global health outcomes will be significantly improved.

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 the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), countries around the world reported major gains in the health and wellbeing of women and children between 1990 and 2015. The global rate of maternal mortality fell by 47 per cent and child mortality declined by 49 per cent. However, any celebration of progress is tempered by the reality that millions of women, children, newborns, and adolescents continue to die every year; mostly from preventable causes. As the world transitions from the MDGs to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must uphold our commitment to keep reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) at the heart of the global agenda. Fulfilling this promise is both a practical imperative and a moral obligation.

The UN Secretary-General's Global Strategy for Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health sets out a plan to give every woman, child, and adolescent the opportunity to not only survive, but to thrive and transform his or her community. Implementing the Global Strategy and achieving the SDG targets requires an unprecedented level of alignment and coordination amongst each and every one of us working in the field of RMNCAH.

On behalf of the six organizations responsible for promoting and implementing the global health agenda across the UN system, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO, and the World Bank Group, we, the undersigned, stand united in our commitment to operationalize the Global Strategy.

Building on our tradition of working together to support countries in achieving the MDGs, we, as members of the H6 (previously known as the H4+), will provide coordinated technical support to country-led efforts to implement the Global Strategy and achieve the ambitious targets of the health-related SDGs. At the same time, we will continue to advocate for evidence-based RMNCAH programmes and policies at the global, regional, and national levels.

As the current H6 chair (2016-2018), UNAIDS will lead the partnership in fulfilling its mandate to leverage the strengths and capacities of each of the six member organizations in order to support high-burden countries in their efforts to improve the survival, health, and well-being of every woman, newborn, child, and adolescent.

As representatives of the H6, we renew our commitment to implement this mandate in support of the Global Strategy. We call on RMNCAH activists and advocates worldwide to join us in fulfilling this shared pledge to women, children, and adolescents everywhere.

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS

Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA

Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women

Margaret Chan, Director General, WHO

Tim Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank Group

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, 2 March 2016—In just under 100 days’ time the 2016 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS will take place in New York, United States of America. The meeting, being held from 8 to 10 June, will focus attention on the importance of accelerating the response to HIV over the next five years to set the world on course to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The meeting will be convened by the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, and co-facilitated by Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations, and Patricia Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations.

“We are at a critical moment in the response to the AIDS epidemic,” said Mr Lykketoft. “All Member States must work together on a strong political declaration that will create the conditions needed to Fast-Track action and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

The UNAIDS Fast-Track approach has a set of time-bound targets, including reducing the number of people newly infected with HIV from 2 million in 2014 to fewer than 500 000 in 2020, reducing the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes from 1.2 million in 2014 to fewer than 500 000 in 2020 and eliminating HIV-related discrimination.

“Over the next five years we have a fragile window of opportunity to shift gear and put the global HIV response firmly on the Fast-Track to end the AIDS epidemic,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “This meeting will be critical to harnessing the momentum we have built and securing global commitment to break the epidemic for good.”

The world urgently needs to increase HIV investments now or risk reversing the major successes achieved in the first 15 years of the millennium. In 2015, an estimated US$ 21.7 billion was invested in the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries. ​Investments need to increase,​ ​year on year from 2015, up to a peak of 40% higher in 202​0​, to reach the Fast-Track Targets​. Adopting the Fast-Track focus on location and population​ and ​reallocating resources to where they are most needed ​will ensure that people most affected by HIV are reached with life-changing HIV prevention and treatment services. ​Achieving all the Fast-Track Targets on time would ​ensure that estimated total resource needs begin to fall by 2021. Without these front-loaded investments the world risks prolonging the epidemic indefinitely​.

At the last United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, held in 2011, world leaders set an ambitious treatment target of 15 million people accessing antiretroviral therapy by the end of 2015. The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, announced last year that this had been achieved and surpassed, with nearly 16 million people accessing antiretroviral therapy by mid-2015—double the number in 2011.

In the lead-up to the meeting in June, people living with and affected by HIV, civil society, the private sector, governments and regional bodies will come together at a series of meetings and events to reaffirm the priorities of the response to HIV.

The 100-day countdown to the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS will be reflected on the UNAIDS website with daily messages from partners around the world on what ending AIDS means to them.

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.