Financial Services, Risk Management and Compliance

Progress towards ending AIDS as a public health threat has been strongest in the countries and regions with sufficient investments in their HIV responses, especially in countries from eastern and southern Africa. However, a critical part of this success lies in understanding where resources are being allocated and ensuring that investments are directed towards the most impactful interventions.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has announced that the Director of Innovation at UNAIDS, Pradeep Kakkattil, has been awarded a 2022 Social Innovators of the Year award. Mr Kakkattil received the prestigious award for his work in creating the Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx), a platform that links innovators, governments and investors and finds solutions to global health-care problems, from COVID-19 diagnosis to the cost of medicines.

During the West and Central Africa Summit on HIV in Dakar, several international partners and ministers gathered to discuss the pressing situation around health financing in the region, exacerbated by the economic crisis due to COVID-19. When it comes to funding HIV responses, WCA is facing a perfect storm: resources available for HIV in the region in 2020 were approximately three quarters of the amount needed. In addition, total HIV resources in the region declined by 11% in the last decade...

The UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchange’s global event, HIEx2020, will feature health-related innovations from around the world and facilitate discussions around innovation in health

A Coronavirus Innovation Map has been launched by StartupBlink together with the Health Innovation Exchange—a UNAIDS initiative to leverage the potential of innovations to improve the health of all—and the Moscow Agency of Innovations.

Universal access to quality comprehensive sexuality education is crucial, especially for young people. It enables young people to make informed decisions and be empowered as they explore their sexuality and relationships. It helps them acquire the skills and values of mutual respect, tolerance, gender equality and non-violence, and it equips them with the knowledge they need to protect their health and well-being more effectively.

Although countries agreed to invest at least US$ 26 billion per year by the end of 2020, in 2018 total investments were just US$ 19 billion—a shortfall of some US$ 7 billion and a drop of US$ 1 billion from 2017, a worrying downward trend in overall funding for HIV.

New initiatives to support access to health care announced at the UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchange meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly

The possibilities for new and improved HIV prevention options were showcased at the recent HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference, although the participants heard that many new tools are still several years from being ready for implementation.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, completed a five-day visit to three countries in southern Africa.