The Yuetan Community Health Centre is nestled on a narrow lane in an old residential part of central Beijing, China. Its yard is packed with bicycles, rather than cars—an indication that the centre is serving people close to where they live.

“Through our centre and nine affiliated community health stations, we provide services to 150 000 people living in the Yuetan area,” said Du Xue Ping, Director of Yuetan Community Health Centre. “In addition to providing medicine, we also undertake health promotion, encouraging people to lead a healthy life. We know that prevention is far better than cure.”

The centre blends state-of-the-art Chinese medicine and Western medicine, serving 420 000 patients annually. It supports the community’s rapidly ageing population, overseeing two senior homes and staff who conduct home visits for seniors and people with mobility problems.

The facility is part of China’s highly regarded multitiered medical system, which has successfully brought life-saving services to people across the country. In this system, major diseases are handled in large hospitals and routine services are treated in community health centres. According to Chinese data, in 2015 there were more than 34 000 similar community health clinics providing essential health services to 706 million people in China. “Community health centres are the first line of defence in protecting people’s health,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The family-centred interface and clear bond between staff and patients exemplifies people-to-people connections.”

Mr Sidibé visited the community health centre to learn more about its holistic and comprehensive approach and how China’s community health system could help to inform the 2 million community health workers initiative, which was recently endorsed by the African Union.

In the 1970s, China’s community-based doctors dramatically improved access to health care in rural communities and were an inspiration to many other countries. China exported the model, sending teams of doctors and nurses to Africa.

“I know from my own personal experience the contributions China has made to primary health care in Africa,” said Mr Sidibé. “Chinese doctors provided crucial medical services to people in Mali where I am from.”

“The world can learn a lot from the Chinese experience,” said Mr Sidibé. “I am very impressed by the professionalism I witnessed here today.”

Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, has urged international health leaders to prioritize health development. While giving his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road High Level Meeting for Health Cooperation: Towards a Health Silk Road, Mr Sidibé also expressed to the Vice-Premier of China, Liu Yandong, his appreciation for China’s efforts through the Belt and Road initiative to create greater cooperation for better health and highlighted the ongoing work to strengthen China–Africa health connections.

More than 20 ministers and deputy ministers of health and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, attended the meeting, which was held in Beijing, China, on 18 and 19 August. The meeting looked at ways to collaborate across shared health goals, including innovation and technology, vaccine safety, nutrition, maternal and child health and human resources for health.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting commits China to support UNAIDS in its work in related fields and includes concrete actions and deliverables, including the creation of a public health cooperation network and an alliance for sustainable health development. 

China’s Vice-Minister of Commerce, Wang Shouwen, commended UNAIDS’ contribution to supporting China’s engagement with Africa and committed to strengthening cooperation with UNAIDS.

UNAIDS and the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China adopted a memorandum of understanding that enhances cooperation on the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to enhance the effectiveness of the global response to the AIDS epidemic. Both parties agreed to use the Belt and Road initiative as a catalyst and accelerator for the Sustainable Development Goals and achieving the global Fast-Track targets by 2020, including reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths to fewer than 500 000 globally and eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The five-year agreement includes an annual US$ 1 million contribution to UNAIDS.

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Empowerment and meaningful participation of communities most affected by sustainable development issues is fundamental to reaching global health, development, rights, and gender goals - including ending AIDS by 2030. This message was emphasized by global development partners at the Leaving No-One Behind in Decision-making: Setting the Example in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Era event held on 18 July - Nelson Mandela Day - during the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York.

Hosted by UNAIDS, the UNAIDS PCB NGO delegation, the Government of Botswana and the Government of Portugal, the event began with keynote speeches from Musah Lumumbah,
Ugandan youth advocate and UNAIDS PCB NGO delegate and Jenna Ortega, actress and activist. Panel members Slumber Tsogwane, Botswana Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, François Delattre, Ambassador of  France to the United Nations in New York, Alessandra Nilo Gestos, Brazil and UNAIDS PCB NGO delegate and Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director were led by facilitator Ebony Johnson, gender and community mobilization advocate, through a dynamic discussion. The session considered lessons learned from the AIDS response, where multisectoral, multistakeholder partnerships and community mobilization, leadership and inclusion has been critical to progress, and how to consolidate these types of inclusive partnerships to help drive impact across the SDGs.

Interventions focused on examples of how and where meaningful community involvement in the planning, programme development, decision making and implementation within the AIDS response not only empowers the voice of those most affected but is also more effective in ensuring the most appropriate policy and planning, tailored to realities and needs.

The session emphasized how inclusion of community representatives in governance processes, at country, regional and global levels, is a powerful mechanism to foster solutions with impact. UNAIDS’  inclusive governance model, where civil society are members of the Programme Coordinating Board, was highlighted as a unique example of how United Nations governance systems can take forward the SDGs in a way which is accountable to and owned by ‘the peoples’ it serves, and which truly leaves no one behind.

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Mediaplanet has today launched a new campaign to raise awareness about maternal health around the world.

Created in partnership with UNAIDS and other international organisations, the campaign looks at a range of case studies on issues affecting pregnant women and mothers, and draws on insights from community health-care providers, as well as public health advocates.

Participating in the campaign, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said: “We need to reinforce the interface between health service providers and the community to better monitor what is going on in each community. That way we can quickly make sure that pregnant women have access to health services and monitor them not only for HIV, but for all health issues.”

According to UNAIDS’ latest report, Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90-90-90 targets, around 76% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines in 2016, up from 47% in 2010. In addition, five high burden countries—Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda—have met the milestone of diagnosing and providing lifelong antiretroviral therapy to 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV. Nonetheless, AIDS-related illnesses remain the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age (15–49 years) globally.

“People have to be courageous and speak up for sexual education and highlight just how critical it is,” said Mr Sidibé. “We have to make sure that girls have access to information early and give them the skills to help them deal with their sexuality in a more empowered manner.”

UNAIDS is working with a broad range of partners, including governments, civil society, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to ensure that women and girls everywhere are empowered and enabled to protect themselves against HIV and that all women and girls living with HIV have immediate access to treatment.

The campaign is available online and will be distributed as a printed supplement in today’s edition of the Guardian.

More than 6 000 HIV professionals from around the world have gathered in Paris for the 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science. The four-day conference is one of the largest open scientific meetings on HIV, organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS) in partnership with the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS).

This year’s conference will prioritize basic science, a prerequisite step to ending the HIV epidemic and feature studies that shine a light on the specific needs of key populations, including young people, transgender people, men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who inject drugs.

The conference was officially opened on Sunday evening by French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, French economist Esther Duflo, Giovanna Rincon, President of the ACCEPTESS-T association and officiated by Linda-Gail Bekker, President of IAS and International Scientific Chair of IAS 2017 as well as IAS 2017 Local Scientific Chair and former director of ANRS.

Global HIV funding has many preoccupied at the Paris conference. Funding cuts would devastate HIV research and treatment programmes, stalling or undoing recent progress highlighted in the latest UNAIDS report released 20 July. IAS reiterated that their shared objective was to ensure that science remains the backbone of the global AIDS response saying funding was critical to end the HIV epidemic.

The conference runs from 23 July to the 26th.

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“Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world” is the theme of the 2017 United Nations High-Level Political Forum review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is taking place in New York, United States of America, from 10 to 19 July.

The 2017 High-Level Political Forum is undertaking an in-depth review of the SDGs on poverty (SDG 1), hunger (SDG 2), health (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), infrastructure and innovation (SDG 9), oceans (SDG 14) and means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development (SDG 17).

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development takes to scale what the AIDS response has been working towards for 30 years—a multisectoral, rights-based, people-centred approach that addresses the determinants of health and well-being. Speaking at the Leveraging Interlinkages for Effective Implementation of the SDGs panel, Michel Sidibé, the UNAIDS Executive Director, shared the experiences and lessons learned from the AIDS response, as well as from the work of UNAIDS, in addressing the many intersections between the AIDS epidemic and other health, human rights and broader development issues as a pathfinder to help achieve the SDGs. 

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The UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, has addressed the 43rd Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie on the centrality of the Francophonie in making progress towards the end of AIDS.

The assembly, which brings Francophone parliamentarians together annually to exchange views, learn about good practices and take a position on cross-cutting issues affecting the French-speaking world, met on 10 July in Luxembourg.

Nearly 600 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie and more than 20 presidents of parliamentary assemblies gathered for the event, which was held under the theme of “Linguistic diversity, cultural diversity, identities”.

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Board members unanimously approve US$ 484 million budget for 2018–2019

GENEVA, 30 June 2017—UNAIDS’ 40th Programme Coordinating Board meeting has concluded in Geneva, Switzerland. Important decisions were taken on redefining the ways in which the Joint Programme works to deliver results efficiently and effectively and continues to advance global efforts to end the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Board affirmed the UNAIDS Joint Programme Action Plan as a way to progressively move towards a refined operating model. The Action Plan strengthens the coherence and effectiveness of UNAIDS’ support to countries and presents clear results and deliverables on joint working, financing, accountability and governance. The Board members also welcomed the final report of the Global Review Panel on the Future of the UNAIDS Joint Programme Model.

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, presented his report to the Board, which centred around seizing the opportunities of change in order to deliver results. He talked about the importance of understanding a rapidly changing world, threats to global health security and the need to end AIDS by 2030.

“Ending AIDS is our imperative. We must not let the changes happening around us bend our trajectory or slow us down,” said Mr Sidibé. “We need to connect the dots across issues, mandates and organizations in new ways, confront obstacles with innovation and transformation, reinforce the centrality of community engagement, Fast-Track our efforts to reach everyone in need and leave no one behind.”

Mr Sidibé also talked Board members through the programme of reform he has led over the past 12 months to reposition the UNAIDS Secretariat and realign to support countries in a new political and financial environment while continuing to ensure maximum support for the work of the entire Joint Programme.

During the meeting, Mr Sidibé called on the Board to consider gender equality in the governance of UNAIDS. The Board invited all delegations to continue to encourage and support equal representation of women and men in the Board.

UNAIDS has increased the percentage of women in country director positions from 27% in 2013 to 48% in 2017 through the Gender Action Plan, an initiative championed by the Deputy Executive Director, Jan Beagle, who has been appointed as the new United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Management, a position she will take up in July 2017 after eight years with UNAIDS.

The Board approved UNAIDS’ 2018–2019 core budget of US$ 484 million. Attentive to the critical importance of a well-resourced Joint Programme, Secretariat and Cosponsors, the Board also encouraged donor governments to make multiyear contributions and release their contributions towards the 2016–2021 Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) as soon as possible. The Board also urged UNAIDS to continue expanding its donor base and encourage new donors to make contributions towards the full funding of the 2016–2021 UBRAF.

During the meeting, important funding announcements to UNAIDS were made by Germany, which pledged to double its contributions to UNAIDS to €5 million in 2017 and 2018, and by Board Chair Ghana who also announced that Ghana would be doubling its contributions to UNAIDS to US$ 200 000, demonstrating Ghana’s commitment to advancing global efforts to end AIDS.

Ghana also announced that, despite facing persistent challenges, including funding and commodity gaps, it will be adopting the 2015 World Health Organization guidelines to test and offer immediate treatment to all people living with HIV in Ghana as part of efforts to achieve the 90–90–90 targets. Ghana is also stepping up its HIV prevention efforts and has trained more than 150 000 teachers in public schools to integrate HIV education into their lessons and has trained 300 000 children as peer educators across the country.

The Board dedicated the final day to a thematic session on the urgent need to scale up HIV prevention. Participants shared best practices from around the world, identified gaps and opportunities in HIV prevention programming and funding and looked at ways of expanding services to people at higher risk of HIV through scaling up primary HIV prevention programmes at the national and local levels.

Representatives of United Nations Member States, international organizations, civil society and nongovernmental organizations attended the three-day meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of Health of Ghana, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland serving as Vice-Chair and Japan as Rapporteur.

At the invitation of the Executive Director, Lorena Castillo de Varela, the First Lady of Panama and UNAIDS Special Ambassador for AIDS in Latin America addressed the board about her work on HIV in Latin America and towards achieving Zero Discrimination globally.  

The Leadership in the AIDS response address was made by the Chair of the Executive Board of UNITAID, Mr Celso Amorim. He emphasized innovation as key to progress on global health.

The UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the Board and the Board’s decisions can be found at unaids.org

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.