Participants attending a two-day consultative workshop held on 19 and 20 May in Johannesburg, South Africa, agreed to set new targets for 2020 and 2030 to scale up access to HIV treatment and prevention programmes in eastern and southern Africa. This consultation followed a call from the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board in December 2013 for UNAIDS to support countries to develop new targets for the HIV response beyond 2015.
Convened by UNAIDS, the workshop brought together more than 120 participants from 21 countries, including senior representatives of governments, regional economic communities, UNAIDS Cosponsors, development partners and civil society organizations, along with technical experts. They discussed the progress made towards the targets and elimination commitments for 2015 in the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, the need to set new targets for the post-2015 period and the challenges and opportunities for accelerating the scale-up of HIV treatment and prevention programmes in the region.
The eastern and southern Africa region is on track to reach several of the targets set for 2015. However, with less than 600 days remaining, new bold and visionary targets are needed to guide the HIV response beyond 2015, incorporate new scientific evidence and lay the foundation to end the AIDS epidemic.
"We have the opportunity to identify bold and innovative solutions to reach ambitious targets and assess the resources needed to translate our commitment into service delivery for people in need, ensuring that no one is left behind."
Sheila Tlou, Director, UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa
"South Sudan has emerged from 21 years of devastating civil war and HIV remains one of the key challenges affecting the country. It is important to ensure that the new treatment and prevention targets address the needs of our people so that we can overcome the AIDS epidemic by 2030."
Esterina Novello Nyilok, Chairperson, South Sudan AIDS Commission
"The Government of South Africa humbly accepts that it will not be able to win the fight against HIV and TB alone. Therefore communities are taking the lead to overcome the challenges not only in AIDS but also all other developmental issues in the country. We can stand together and build."
Fikile Ndlovu, General Manager, Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal
"New targets and their indicators must be disaggregated by age to help address the key challenges affecting young people, including early detection of HIV, access to treatment and viral load monitoring, provision of quality care and sexual and reproductive health services, retention in care, stigma and discrimination. This would also allow HIV programmes for young people to receive appropriate resources and programmatic and research attention."
Musah Lumumba, Member of the PACT and Y+ Leadership
