Feature story

Letter to Partners 2011: UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé

18 February 2011

 

In his 2011 Letter to Partners, Mr Sidibé outlines a set of six new frontiers to move the global AIDS response forward: The democratization of the response; making the law work for not against AIDS; reducing the upward trajectory of programme costs; making funding for AIDS a shared responsibility; making the AIDS movement a bridge to development; and fostering scientific innovation for HIV prevention and treatment.

According to Mr Sidibé, each of the new frontiers supports the other, and he cautions that a singular advancement in any one sector alone will not be sufficient to move the entire global AIDS response forward.

This Letter to Partners coincides with the 30 years of the AIDS epidemic, the 10th anniversary of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and five years since the world committed to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Together, we can make this the defining decade, the decade that signals the beginning of the end of AIDS

Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director

“This year we have an historic opportunity to build on and improve the performance of the last three decades,” said Sidibé. “Together, we can make this the defining decade, the decade that signals the beginning of the end of AIDS,” he added in anticipation of the June 2011 General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS that will bring together world leaders to renew hope and re-energize the AIDS movement.

Read the 2011 Letter to Partners