UNGA70

UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have launched a two-year initiative to work with faith-based organizations and strengthen their capacity to respond to HIV.

Unveiled during the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the first phase of the US$ 4 million programme will increase collaboration with faith communities in several UNAIDS and PEPFAR partner countries across five focus areas. These are: collecting, analysing and disseminating data; challenging stigma and discrimination; increasing demand for HIV services and retaining people in care; improving HIV-related service provision; and strengthening leadership and advocacy.

Faith-based provision of health services has been a cornerstone of the global HIV response from the earliest days of the epidemic. Religious organizations continue to provide health—and other essential services—to local communities around the world. In responding to epidemics and health emergencies, there is evidence showing that no matter how effective a biomedical response is, there is always a need for equally effective collaboration with communities.

This faith initiative will support scale-up of community and faith responses, which are central to achieving the ambitious UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target and the PEPFAR 3.0 goals focusing on impact, efficiency, sustainability, partnership and human rights.

The new initiative has been developed in response to 10 recommendations made by faith leaders at a consultation in April 2015, which brought together more than 50 faith leaders from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Recommendations include increased accountability, greater collaboration between faith-based organizations and international partners, and better access to data.

In September 2015, at the United Nations General Assembly, UNAIDS, PEPFAR and Emory University released a report based on the recommendations. The report, Building on firm foundations, explores in depth the scale and scope of faith-based responses in the four countries.

A landmark series on faith-based health-care published by the Lancet in July 2015 called for more research into the work of faith-based health-care providers. The series noted that although it is widely known that faith groups provide care and support to often marginalized communities, there is a need to improve the measurement of how they benefit health-care provision. This is among a number of recommendations that the new UNAIDS/PEPFAR partnership is set to address. 

Twelve United Nations (UN) entities have released a joint statement calling for an end to violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. The joint statement highlights the UN’s inter-agency commitment on working with Member States to protect, respect and fulfil the right of LGBTI people to live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma. It also calls on countries to repeal discriminatory laws.

LGBTI people face a wide range of human rights violations. The UN and others have documented widespread physical and psychological violence against LGBTI people in all regions, including murder, assault, kidnapping, rape and sexual violence, as well as torture and ill-treatment in institutional and other settings.

In many countries, the response to these violations is inadequate; in others, human rights defenders challenging these violations are frequently persecuted and face restrictions on their activities. The legislative framework can exacerbate the situation, with 76 countries criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships between adults. These laws expose individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and even the death penalty in at least five countries.

Punitive environments that marginalize LGBTI people also create significant challenges in responding to HIV. Gay men and other men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, and HIV prevalence among gay men and other men who have sex with men is rising in certain regions, including Asia and the Pacific and Latin America. Transgender women are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV.

In addition to violating the fundamental human rights of LGBTI people, punitive laws severely restrict the ability of LGBTI people to access critical HIV and other health services. Service providers are often forced to stop working, owing to harassment or fear of prosecution.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, re-affirmed his support for LGBTI rights with a message delivered during last year’s UN General Assembly. “The fight for human rights—and the fight against discrimination—lies at the core of the mission of the United Nations. The fight for equal rights demands global engagement. That is why the United Nations actively works to tackle homophobia and transphobia around the world,” he said.

The UN entities that have signed the joint statement on ending violence and discrimination against LGBTI people are: the International Labour Organization (ILO); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women); the World Food Programme (WFP); the World Health Organization (WHO); and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Read the joint statement

Innovation and new means of implementation will ensure countries deliver on 2030 AIDS promises

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 27 September 2015—The Governments of Kenya and Malawi, together with UNAIDS, are leading an urgent call for new investment and improvements in health service delivery to put the world on course to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The call was made during a high-level event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the eve of the historic seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Leaders from around the world gathered at the event to pledge their support and commitment to the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach and to finding new and innovative ways of delivering essential health care to people most in need.  

“We believe we are on the right track, but reaching the Fast-Track Targets won’t be easy,” said President Peter Mutharika of Malawi. “We must expand and scale up HIV services. Malawi is ready to see this journey through and end AIDS by 2030.” Malawi has already taken bold steps to reach its targets, having recently announced that it will provide antiretroviral therapy to everyone living with HIV as of April 2016. 

The AIDS response to date has been the most successful response to any modern epidemic. There have been massive reductions in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths over the past 15 years and more than 15 million people now have access to antiretroviral therapy.

To take the AIDS response forward, UNAIDS has developed a Fast-Track approach to reach a set of time-bound targets by 2020. The targets include 90% of all people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90% of people who know their status having access to treatment and 90% of people on treatment having supressed viral loads. They also include reducing new HIV infections by 75% and achieving zero discrimination.

“Over the last decades we have made great progress in combatting AIDS but it is still unfinished business,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. “We must all continue to galvanize additional resources for the AIDS response, both international and domestic.  We must invest in HIV prevention, care and treatment services because there is simply no other option.”

The massive scale-up of services over the past 15 years has resulted in 30 million new HIV infections and 8 million deaths averted over the last 15 years.

“It is no longer a dream; we have to believe that we can end AIDS. Unfortunately many people still continue to be stigmatized and we just need to push from every front to make sure that no one is left behind,” said President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali.

Putting people at the centre was one of the ways identified as essential to ending the AIDS epidemic. Where people at higher risk of HIV infection and people living with HIV are empowered to realize their human rights, uptake of HIV services has increased.

“I believe the AIDS epidemic can be ended within the next 15 years,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Now, more than ever, we need means of implementation that are smart, efficient, sustainable and, most importantly, people-centred.”

Without inclusion and equity, key populations and young people will continue to be left behind. The meeting heard from Elijah Zacchary, a 12-year-old Kenyan boy living with HIV, who spoke of his hopes for the future. “Presidents, thank you for making the promise to end AIDS by 2030, but we must make sure that all children have access to treatment,” said Elijah. “My dream is that by the time I am 27 years old there shall be no more stigma and I am still able to take my medication every day.”

The leaders called for greater engagement of communities and innovative, community-led approaches to the delivery of health services. Innovation in community delivery is breaking the logjam in the capacity of health services to deliver life-saving prevention and treatment services and needs to be adequately funded and supported.

“To end AIDS in Lesotho, we need to integrate HIV into primary health care, adequately resource our best foot soldiers—the village health workers—mobilize communities through innovative approaches advocated by our Majesty the King and better coordinate support from our partners,” said Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho.

Big challenges remain to end the epidemic. Of the 36.9 million people living with HIV globally 17.1 million do not know they have the virus and need to be reached with HIV testing services, and around 22 million do not have access to HIV treatment, including 1.8 million children.

“We in the Caribbean believe that we can be the first region in the world to end AIDS. Going forward with this aspirational goal requires increased investment, which is part of the global solidarity that we are here for today,” said Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

At current levels, there is an annual gap of US$ 12 billion globally between the resources available and the resources needed to reach the UNAIDS 2020 Fast-Track Targets and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. 

Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama spoke at the Sustainable Development Summit and announced that the United States of America had set new targets to reach more people with life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services, with a particular focus on young women and adolescent girls.

Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources of the United States, said, “We stand together to celebrate that progress, to demonstrate our collective resolve, and to meet the challenge before us in the new global goals: to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

Over the next five years the AIDS response requires front-loading investments and increasing the diversity of investment, innovative delivery mechanisms and partnerships to ensure that no one is left behind, especially adolescents, young people and key populations. Ensuring commodity security to sustain the AIDS response, focusing on locations, populations and programmes that deliver the greatest impact and addressing discrimination and gender inequality and committing to people-centred approaches grounded in human rights will reap huge benefits by 2030: 21 million AIDS-related deaths averted; 28 million new HIV infections averted; and 5.9 million new infections among children averted.

“There is a generation in jeopardy. Young people are falling through the cracks in the AIDS response," said Charlize Theron, Messenger of Peace for the United Nations and founder of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. “But there is reason to hope, we know what works—empowering young people to take care of their health.”

Karen Dunaway, a young woman from Honduras living with HIV, said, “We adolescents and young people should have the space to participate meaningfully in decision-making at all levels, including policy-making and implementation. Governments must work with civil society and young people to ensure accountability. Together we must break the prejudice and stigma so that all young people have access to services.”

Better health outcomes will support the entire Sustainable Development Goals framework and not only lead to healthier lives, but also help alleviate poverty, reduce discrimination and improve economic security.

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.

Responding to the challenge and opportunity posed by the interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leaders in health and education from across the world came together on the sidelines of the SDG Summit to discuss ways in which the health and education sectors can collaborate and integrate towards joint, people-centered results.

Convened by the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria, UNICEF and UNAIDS together with the United Nations Foundation and the Global Poverty Project on 26 September 2015, the high-level roundtable stressed the need for adequate financing in health and education to meet the SDGs.

Participants speaking at the event included Julia Gillard, Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education and former Prime Minister of Australia, Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ethiopia, Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, and Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. Participants agreed that putting people—particularly women and girls—at the center of the collective health and education efforts will be the key to success in the SDGs.

Adolescent girls, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, face higher risks of HIV infection. In 2014, an estimated 60% of all adolescents aged 15-19 years living with HIV were girls. Strong evidence shows that keeping adolescent girls and young women in school reduces the risk of HIV infection. Better educated young women are also more likely to delay sexual debut, to use condoms more frequently, to delay marriage and childbearing and to have better earning potential.

Participants at the event noted that there is significant work to be done to further collaboration between the health and education sectors but that there are good experiences of multisector responses and existing platforms to build on, including those established in the global AIDS response.

Emphasizing how gains in the AIDS response have been proven to maximize impact across other development outcomes, Ms Beagle said: “The AIDS response has shown the value of a multi-sectoral and people-centered approach. From the outset, it was clear HIV was much more than a health issue. It is a development issue, a rights issue, a gender issue that has inclusion of affected communities and evidence and rights-based approaches at its core. Lessons learned from this can be transferred not just to health and education, but across the SDGs.”

Concluding the roundtable, participants committed to continue their engagement, invest in girls’ health and education, focus joint efforts on evidence-based strategies, apply lessons learned through other sectors and monitor success. They stressed the importance of building on the momentum for cross-sectoral collaboration created at the Summit and continuing the dialogue to further advance the integration agenda.

Countries adopt an ambitious new development agenda that will leave no one behind

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 25 September 2015—UNAIDS has welcomed the adoption by world leaders of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which set the framework for global development policy over the next 15 years. The ambitious agenda outlines 17 goals ranging from ending poverty and hunger, to achieving gender equality and combatting climate change.

“Today marks a historic opportunity for the world to unite for a healthier planet and a healthier future for all,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Commitment, action and implementation will allow for truly sustainable results for people everywhere.”

The agenda builds on the achievements of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which were set in 2000 and included a commitment to halt and reverse the AIDS epidemic. Since then, there has been massive scale up of the response to HIV which enabled the world to not only achieve, but actually exceed the AIDS targets of Millennium Development Goal 6. UNAIDS has now set a firm course to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the new Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve this UNAIDS has developed a Fast-Track approach to reach a set of time-bound targets by 2020. The targets include reducing new HIV infections by 75%, ensuring 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, ensuring 90% of people who know their status have access to treatment and that 90% of people on treatment have supressed viral loads, keeping them healthy and reducing the risk of transmission.

The response to HIV spans many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and is included under Sustainable Goal 3, to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. UNAIDS looks forward to working closely with all partners to ensure a healthier, more equitable future which leaves no one behind.

“The targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals provide us with a road map to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Mr Sidibé. “This international framework has the potential to save millions of lives and to achieve fairer and more just outcomes for people everywhere.”

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.

Strong focus on adolescent girls and young women and on ensuring access to treatment will Fast-Track results

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 26 September 2015—UNAIDS welcomes the ambitious new targets set by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) just one day after the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by United Nations Member States at the UN headquarters in New York which include ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

PEPFAR has set specific targets for preventing new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24. The targets also include ensuring access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for 12.9 million children, pregnant women and adults by the end of 2017.

“The United States of America’s continued commitment will be a stepping stone towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Under the bold leadership of President Obama, these generous investments are and will continue to save millions of lives.”

The targets set by PEPFAR will make a significant contribution to the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. This announcement will create momentum to achieve the 90-90-90 HIV treatment target whereby 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

As well as expanding access to HIV treatment, PEPFAR’s newly announced targets aim to reduce HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women by 40% by the end of 2017 in PEPFAR focus areas across 10 countries—Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These 10 countries accounted for nearly half of all new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women in 2014. The commitments also include the provision to cumulatively reach up to 13 million men with voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention by the end of 2017.

UNAIDS looks forward to continuing to work closely with PEPFAR towards ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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.

UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Victoria Beckham has been awarded the Fashion 4 Development Award for her work with UNAIDS and her commitment to make change happen by raising awareness on HIV.

As part of an official mission to New York in her role as Goodwill Ambassador, she, along with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Jan Beagle, participated in the Fashion 4 Development annual First Ladies Luncheon on 28 September, during which the award was made. Bringing together the world of fashion, First Ladies and business and global change-makers, the event, founded by Evie Evangelou, connects people and communities for positive change.

On 27 September, Ms Beckham took part in the opening of the Social Good Summit. Held on the sidelines of the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the summit examined the impact of technology and new media on social good initiatives around the world. Ms Beckham spoke on Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which promotes good health and well-being for all, and underlined how the empowerment of women will be an important tool for achieving the SDG target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Other prominent figures attending the summit included Graca Machel, Queen Rania of Jordan and the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning, Amina Mohammed.

Ms Beckham also had a number of meetings with UNAIDS and partners while in New York, including an emotional encounter with 12-year-old Elijah Zacchary and his family, who shared his personal story of a young person living with HIV.

In a historic move, some 160 Heads of State and Government gathered at a special United Nations (UN) General Assembly meeting in New York on 25 September to adopt the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The long-awaited era of the post-2015 global development agenda has begun.

The summit document, Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, with its 17 goals and 169 targets, is a call to action in five vital areas, encompassing people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. This universal, integrated and transformative agenda aims to spur action that will end poverty and build a more sustainable world over the next 15 years.

Before the opening of the UN Summit, His Holiness Pope Francis addressed the gathering, where he spoke about the need to protect the natural environment and put an end to exclusion. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took the floor during the opening ceremony and a brief address was given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

The Sustainable Development Summit, taking place during the seventieth session of the UN General Assembly, will explore six specific themes over two days in interactive dialogues, before a final closing plenary session. These themes include ending poverty and hunger, empowering women and girls and leaving no one behind, fostering sustainable economic growth, combating climate change, and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.

The SDGs are the result of a three-year-long participatory process. The decision to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs was made by UN Member States at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012.

A UNAIDS statement on the occasion of the UN Summit for the adoption of the Post-2015 development agenda was delivered at the High-Level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly by UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Jan Beagle.