HIGH-LEVEL SIDE EVENT AT THE 72ND UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
DATE: 09:00-10:30, THURSDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2017
VENUE: CONFERENCE ROOM 4, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
The Fast-Track approach to ending AIDS is saving lives. Governments, implementers, civil society, multilateral organizations and communities have committed to the shared agenda of ending AIDS by 2030. And there is progress: for the first time, 19.5 million people—more than half of all people living with HIV—are accessing life-saving treatment. The world has cut the number of people who die from AIDS by nearly half since 2005, further tipping the scales in our favour.
But the pace of progress is insufficient. At the very moment countries need to be scaling up delivery of HIV services—fiscal space and community space is shrinking. Globally, new HIV infections have come down 11% since 2010, but clearly, they are not falling fast enough.
Political momentum is building but has not yet reached a critical mass. When the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Political Declaration on Ending AIDS in June 2016, Member States committed to achieve global and regional Fast-Track targets by 2020. We cannot reach these ambitious but achievable targets without increased high-level political leadership and engagement. For example, in June 2017, President Yoweri Museveni launched the Presidential Fast-Track Initiative on Ending AIDS as a Public Health Threat in Uganda, referred to as “Kisanja Hakuna Mchezo” or “no time for playing games”.
THE HIGH-LEVEL SIDE EVENT
In order to assess progress and accelerate momentum, President Museveni, will host a high-level side event on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly. Held in collaboration with UNAIDS, the event aims to:
▪ Demonstrate that the Fast-Track approach is working and show its impact on health systems and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa and beyond.
▪ Renew political leadership and commit to action and accountability to achieve the global and regional targets adopted in the 2016 Political Declaration on Ending AIDS.
▪ For sustainable development build momentum for shared responsibility and global solidarity, to reinforce and add urgency toward ending AIDS.
PARTICIPANTS
The event will feature Heads of State and Government from Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The African Union Chairperson, programme implementers, multilateral organizations, donors, civil society and private sector representatives will also attend the event.
