César Antonio Núñez is the Director of UNAIDS New York Office. He has over 30 years in national and international public service. A physician by training, he began his professional career working to improve the health and welfare of vulnerable communities in his native Honduras.
Dr Núñez joined UNAIDS in 2007 and took on the leadership of the Latin America & Caribbean regional office in Panama. There, he provided guidance and leadership to UNAIDS Country Directors (UCDs) in more than 25 countries in the region, to set and achieve ambitious targets and aligned to benefit affected communities. He also delivered strategic direction on the HIV response in LAC to UNCTs and Resident Coordinators, he engaged Heads of State and high-level leadership at country level and established better local and international collaboration with key partners and donors. As a senior member of the United Nations Development Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDG LAC), he contributed to interagency collaboration and to collective efforts in support of Sustainable Development Goals dialogues, and support to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. He served as Chair of the UNDG LAC in 2018.
Some of his achievements include: building a cooperation framework between UNAIDS and the Organization of American States (OAS), linked to work with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which resulted in the establishment of the Rapporteurship on the Human Rights of Sexual Diversity Communities in LAC; signing an MOU with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), to develop technical material linked to the cost of the AIDS response in the Americas and its societal impact on inequality; championing the establishment of the Latin American network of youth living with HIV and motivated their engagement with other youth regional networks working on Agenda 2030 issues. Dr. Núñez also lead UNAIDS efforts to better assist the needs of Venezuelan migrants living with HIV along the migration route -with emphasis on prevention of gender-based violence against women and girls and treatment for PLHIV.
In New York, Dr Núñez represents UNAIDS and communicates the organization's evolving mandate and broad organizational objectives to the United Nations system, Member States Permanent Representatives, and civil society organizations, as well as provides authoritative technical leadership that draws key partners into close collaboration. In 2021, he supported the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030.
Dr Núñez holds a Master’s degree from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington from Seattle, USA.
