From 14 to 21 October, almost 25 000 young people from 188 countries gathered in Sochi, Russian Federation, for the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students. The festival provided a space for young people to unite in addressing global challenges, with a special focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through the leadership of the PACT youth coalition against HIV and with support from UNAIDS and participation of UNFPA and UNESCO, the issues of ending AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights were high on the agenda.

Three sessions focused on comprehensive sexuality education, modern epidemics and the role of young people in ending AIDS by 2030. The overarching theme of the discussions was that although much progress has been achieved in the response to HIV, there are still persistent challenges that put young people at risk, including discrimination, exclusion, violence and lack of access to services such as comprehensive sexuality education.

Speakers at the comprehensive sexuality education session highlighted that the absence of quality comprehensive sexuality education remains one of the largest gaps in ensuring that young people know how to protect themselves from HIV. Speakers also presented key new products and platforms, including a comprehensive sexuality education hub, teensLIVE.info, a video lesson developed for schoolchildren in eastern Europe and central Asia featuring UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Vera Brezhneva and a series of videos by the NauchPok channel.

The PACT youth coalition met with the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, who said, “I am looking forward to working with all of you through UNAIDS and other partners. My goal is to ensure that young people have a voice in all United Nations processes and to help them address issues that are relevant to them and their communities, including those issues that may be perceived as sensitive or challenging.”

Lack of access to information on HIV leads to new HIV infections and sustains the root causes that put young people at risk, including inequality, discrimination, violence and exclusion. Dilyara Vagapova, from the Russian rock group Murakami, said, “Without open conversations with young people about HIV, sex and the harm done by drugs, we will not succeed in ending the HIV epidemic in eastern Europe and central Asia.”

To ensure that the targets in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS are met, accountability is key. Young leaders from Bulgaria, India, South Africa, Tajikistan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland shared best practices in peer education and youth-led accountability for the SDGs and the HIV response. Yana Mladenova from Bulgaria, said, “A policy on paper is not the same as a policy in practice. Successful advocacy results in action in practice.” Yana Valchuk, from the Teenergizer adolescent network, said, “To end the epidemic, we need to end discrimination, so adolescents stop living in fear.”

Vinay P. Saldanha, the UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, spoke at several sessions. “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending AIDS by 2030, does not depend on those that negotiated them. It depends on the personal commitment of each young person at this festival. This is your world—these are your goals!,” he said.

A new report published by the International Labour Organization (ILO), VCT@WORK: voluntary confidential counselling and HIV testing for workers, shows that the VCT@WORK campaign has reached more than 6 million workers with HIV information, tested more than 4 million and referred more than 100 000 to HIV treatment. Launched in 2013, VCT@WORK is an initiative of ILO, UNAIDS and partners to scale up HIV testing, specifically in the workplace.

The VCT@WORK initiative has had particular success in reaching men, a group that is hard to reach with HIV services, with men accounting for more than 60% of people tested for HIV and 80% of people referred to treatment through the initiative in 2016.

The campaign reached 18 countries in 2016, and focuses on populations at higher risk of HIV infection, including workers in the mining, transport, construction, health and tourism sectors. Mobile and migrant workers are also often the focus of VCT@WORK HIV testing programmes, and in concentrated epidemics the focus is on key populations.

Workers in Kenya are among the people to have been reached by the campaign. A partnership between ILO, the Central Organization of Trade Unions in Kenya and other partners has enabled trucker drivers to access HIV testing and counselling services along the Mombasa to Busia transport corridor. Truck drivers face challenges in accessing health services, owing to their mobility and irregular schedules, so being able to test for HIV while at work will allow many more to find out their HIV status in order to start life-saving treatment or to access HIV prevention services to keep them HIV-free.

Hair and beauty salon workers in Kenya and workers in the informal economy are among the 74 000 people who have taken HIV tests through the VCT@WORK initiative in the country, with more than 1000 people who found out their HIV-positive status being linked to treatment.

Coal India Limited is the largest public sector coal company in India, with around 314 000 employees plus a large number of contractual workers. A long-standing partner of ILO’s HIV workplace programme, it is now a lead company in the VCT@WORK initiative in the country. Its HIV strategy, developed as part of VCT@WORK, includes training master trainers and peer educators to promote voluntary HIV testing, engaging unions to mobilize workers to seek HIV information and testing and covering contractual workers and their families in the strategy. More than 36 000 workers, dependents and contractual workers have accessed HIV counselling and testing services under the initiative.

These and other VCT@WORK programmes around the world are helping build momentum towards meeting the 90–90–90 targets, whereby, by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

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As for everyone, food security is vital for people living with HIV. Access to food improves adherence to HIV treatment and lack of sufficient food can increase the risk of HIV infection through increased transactional, survival and intergenerational sex. And malnourishment affects how well HIV treatment works—people living with HIV who are malnourished are two to six times more likely to die in the first six months of treatment than those who are not.

For people living with HIV in eastern Ukraine, the conflict has had a significant impact on their food security, with most people living with HIV severely food insecure and living in extreme poverty. The conflict has displaced many people—especially women and children—HIV services have had to be relocated and the quality of services in many facilities is poor.

To prevent the collapse of HIV services and to increase food security for people living with HIV, civil society organizations and the United Nations have stepped in. In the parts of eastern Ukraine not controlled by the government, the United Nations and a few humanitarian organizations are the only entities making antiretroviral therapy and other medicines available.

The World Food Programme (WFP), a UNAIDS Cosponsor, is assisting thousands of people living with HIV in the conflict-affected areas with food support through a programme with the All Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV, a nongovernmental partner of WFP. In the government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, 6500 people living with HIV are in a cash-based transfer programme to provide money for essential food. The assistance, which includes regular medical appointments and the monitoring of adherence to HIV treatment, has led to a fourfold decrease in treatment interruptions. In areas of eastern Ukraine not controlled by the government, in-kind food assistance has helped thousands to meet their basic needs.

The need for food support among people living with HIV in eastern Ukraine is, however, far outstripped by the resources available to support them. Although 6500 people living with HIV in Donetsk and Luhansk are accessing cash-based transfers, thousands more are not being assisted, and the need is even greater in the areas beyond government control. There are fears that even this limited help may have to end, since WFP has yet to receive funds to continue the programme in 2018.

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GENEVA, 5 October 2017—UNAIDS welcomes the appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General of Natalia Kanem as the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“As part of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Population Fund’s work is critical in meeting the reproductive health needs of women and adolescents,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I look forward to working closely with Ms Kanem. Her experience in public health, her strong leadership and her commitment to social justice will be invaluable in our efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat.” 

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s response to HIV is integral to its goals of achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and ending gender-based violence. UNFPA promotes integrated HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for young people, key populations, and women and girls, including people living with HIV.

As part of UNFPA’s work on HIV prevention, Ms Kanem is co-convening a meeting of the Global Prevention Coalition with Mr Sidibé to finalize work on the HIV Prevention 2020 Road Map, a road map to accelerate HIV prevention efforts and reduce new HIV infections by 75% by 2020.

UNFPA is one of UNAIDS’ 11 Cosponsors working to end the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. UNFPA is also part of the H6 partnership, which pulls together the collective strengths and distinct capacities of six United Nations agencies, related organizations and programmes to improve the health and save the lives of women and children around the world.

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.

GENEVA, 16 October 2017—UNAIDS warmly welcomes the nomination by the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) of Audrey Azoulay as its new Director-General.

“Audrey Azoulay’s commitment to promote respect for diversity, gender equality and access to education and culture will be invaluable in her new role. They are values we share,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “UNAIDS looks forward to working closely with Ms Azoulay and UNESCO to further strengthen our engagement with the education, scientific and cultural sectors as part of our joint efforts to end AIDS by 2030.”

UNESCO was founded in 1945 with the mission of contributing to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science and culture. UNESCO is one of UNAIDS’ 11 cosponsoring organizations and leads efforts to support countries in scaling up the education sector response to HIV. 

Education is essential to an effective response to HIV and contributes to fostering economic growth, reducing poverty and improving general health. Education has the capacity to transform lives and enable people to thrive in their environment, take healthy decisions and build a more just, inclusive, safe and sustainable world. The role of the education sector includes providing the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that can contribute to safer behaviours, eliminate stigma and discrimination, seek treatment and enable them to stay healthy and free from HIV.

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.

Global HIV Prevention Coalition holds first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to find ways to strengthen and sustain political commitment for HIV prevention  

GENEVA, 10 October 2017—As part of global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat, UNAIDS, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners have launched a new road map to reduce new HIV infections. The HIV prevention 2020 road map was launched at the first meeting of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition. The coalition is chaired by the Executive Directors of UNAIDS and UNFPA and brings together United Nations Member States, civil society, international organizations and other partners as part of efforts to reduce new HIV infections by 75% by 2020.  

Despite progress in reducing AIDS-related deaths, which have fallen by nearly 50% since the peak of the epidemic, declines in new HIV infections among adults are lagging. While new HIV infections among children have fallen by 47% since 2010, new HIV infections among adults have declined by only 11%.

“Scaling up treatment alone will not end AIDS,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We need more energy and action put into HIV prevention—stronger leadership, increased investment and community engagement to ensure that everyone, particularly people at higher risk of HIV, can protect themselves against the virus.”

“In many places, lack of access to education, lack of agency and lack of autonomy over their own bodies keep adolescent girls from claiming their human rights. And the poorest girls have the least power to decide whether, when or whom to marry and whether, when or how often to become pregnant,” said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem. “This lack of power makes each one of these girls extremely vulnerable to HIV infection, sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.”

In 2016, in the United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, countries committed to reduce new HIV infections by 75%—from 2.2 million in 2010 to 500 000 in 2020. The new road map developed by UNAIDS, UNFPA and partners will put countries on the Fast-Track to achieve this important target.

“The Coalition is here to recognize that we all matter,” said Laurel Sprague, Executive Director, The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+). “That means doing the hard work to ensure that people living with HIV are able to stay healthy, alive, and free from soul-crushing prejudice and discrimination—and the hard work to make sure that everyone who is not HIV-positive has the support and resources they need to remain HIV negative.”

The HIV prevention 2020 road map contains a 10-point action plan that lays out immediate, concrete steps countries need to take to accelerate progress. Steps include conducting up-to-date analysis to assess where the opportunities are for maximum impact, developing guidance to identify gaps and actions for rapid scale-up, training to develop expertise in HIV prevention and on developing networks and addressing legal and policy barriers to reach the people most affected by HIV, including young people and key populations.

The road map identifies factors that have hindered progress, such as gaps in political leadership, punitive laws, a lack of services accessible to young people and a lack of HIV prevention services in humanitarian settings. It also highlights the importance of community engagement as advocates, to ensure service delivery and for accountability.

The road map also identifies serious gaps in funding and budget allocation—UNAIDS estimates that around one quarter of HIV budgets should be allocated to HIV prevention programmes; however, in 2016, many countries were spending less than 10% of their HIV budgets on prevention, and many international donors were spending less than a quarter.

“UNAIDS is urging commitment and leadership for measurable results,” said Mr Sidibé. “Leadership to address sensitive political issues and leadership in mobilizing adequate funding of HIV prevention programmes.”

To reduce new HIV infections by 75% will require an intensive focus on HIV prevention, combined with the scale-up of HIV testing and treatment. Taking a location–population-based approach to ensure effective and efficient planning and programming, and a people-centred approach that responds to the needs of people at higher risk of HIV, will be critical.

Concerted efforts will be needed to reach adolescent girls and young women and their male partners, to scale up combination HIV prevention programmes for key populations, to increase the availability and uptake of condoms, to expand voluntary medical male circumcision programmes for HIV prevention and to ensure that people at higher risk of HIV have access to preventative medicines.

The road map encourages countries to develop a 100-day plan for immediate actions, including setting national targets, reviewing the progress made against the plan after 100 days, reassessing their national prevention programmes and taking immediate remedial action. It outlines how different partners can contribute and includes actions for civil society, development partners, philanthropic institutions and the business community. By reaching these targets, progress in reducing new HIV infections should accelerate significantly, setting countries firmly on the path towards ending their AIDS epidemics. 

HIV prevention 2020 road map http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2017/hiv-prevention-2020-road-map

GENEVA, 3 October 2017—UNAIDS warmly congratulates Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão on her appointment as the Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals at the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Mariangela is driven by a steadfast commitment to put people at the centre,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “She is a passionate advocate for human rights and I look forward to continuing to work with her to ensure that no one is left behind in access to medicines.”

Ms Simão has worked for UNAIDS since 2010, serving as the Director of Rights, Gender, Prevention and Community Mobilization. She has been instrumental in developing policies and guidance on the impact of HIV-related stigma and discrimination in health systems, HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women, human rights and HIV, ending overly broad criminalization of HIV transmission and partnerships with civil society.

UNAIDS would also like to congratulate Bernhard Schwartländer on his appointment as the new Chef de Cabinet at WHO. Mr Schwartländer held a number of positions with UNAIDS, including Director of Evaluation and Strategic Information until 2012.

“These two excellent leaders will bring energy, determination and a focus on delivering results for people everywhere,” said Mr Sidibé. “I am proud of their achievements and wish them well in their new roles.”

WHO is one of UNAIDS’ 11 Cosponsors advancing progress in global health 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.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS have released a joint statement on HIV testing services that reinforces two key principles that ensure a human rights-based and public health approach to HIV testing.

The statement says that HIV testing, no matter how it is delivered, must always respect personal choice and adhere to ethical and human rights principles. It makes it clear that WHO and UNAIDS do not recommend mandatory, compulsory or coerced HIV testing of individuals on public health grounds.

The statement also explains that in order to minimize the risk of HIV misdiagnosis, all providers of HIV testing services must use HIV test kits and testing procedures that meet WHO quality standards or other equivalent national or regional quality standards. Testing procedures must be validated in each setting, depending on the population HIV prevalence. Regular external quality assurance should also be in place in order to rapidly detect potential causes of HIV misdiagnosis.

The position of WHO and UNAIDS is that no one should be given an HIV-positive diagnosis on the basis of a single positive HIV test result. National HIV testing procedures should be followed to confirm an HIV-positive test result and everyone should be re-tested before starting on lifelong antiretroviral therapy.

The 2017 UNAIDS report Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90–90–90 targets estimates that only 70% of people living with HIV are aware of their HIV status. This is the first of the 90–90–90 targets, whereby, by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people living with HIV who know their status are receiving antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

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GENEVA, 5 June 2017—UNAIDS mourns the sudden passing away of the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Babatunde Osotimehin. A renowned global public health leader, Dr Osotimehin was widely regarded for his work on sexual and reproductive health, as well as his work on HIV.

“Babatunde Osotimehin will be remembered for improving the lives of women and young people and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Young people have lost a champion today.”

As Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr Osotimehin led the organization’s efforts on HIV prevention, especially among adolescents and young adults, promoting condoms and ensuring that women and adolescent girls receive HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health services. He also led Nigeria’s AIDS response as Minister of Health and as the Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of HIV and AIDS.

“I have lost a brother, a valued long-time family friend,” said Mr Sidibé. “The UNAIDS family commits to carry forward the legacy of Babatunde.”

UNFPA is one of UNAIDS’ 11 Cosponsors advancing the response to HIV. 

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.

GENEVA, 23 May 2017—UNAIDS warmly welcomes the appointment of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The announcement was made during an appointment ceremony that took place after WHO Member States cast their final votes at a closed session during the 70th World Health Assembly.

“Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is a driving force for change with vast experience and expertise in global health,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “He is a dynamic leader, an excellent convener and shares our ambition to end AIDS as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. I look forward to working closely with him to achieve our goals.”

In an interview with UNAIDS, Mr Tedros said that lessons learned in the AIDS response have been critical to shaping the future of global health. He said that the creativity, commitment and multisectorality of the AIDS response will be needed to place universal health coverage at the centre of the implementation of all Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr Tedros is currently a Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He has 30 years of experience in health leadership, politics and diplomacy, during which he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Health of Ethiopia. He will take up his new position on 1 July 2017, taking over from Margaret Chan, who served as the Director-General of WHO for 10 years.

WHO is one of UNAIDS’ 11 Cosponsors advancing the response to HIV. UNAIDS will work closely with the new Director-General of WHO to advance progress in global health and end 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.