Most donor governments decreased support

GENEVA/MENLO PARK, UNITED STATES, 18 July 2018—Donor government disbursements to combat HIV in low- and middle-income countries increased by 16%, from US$ 7 billion in 2016 to US$ 8.1 billion in 2017, although the higher total stems largely from the timing of funding from the United States of America and is not expected to last, a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS finds.

The increase follows two years of declines in donor support for HIV and results largely from a boost by the United States, the world’s largest donor nation, which increased its disbursement from US$ 4.9 billion in 2016 to US$ 5.9 billion 2017, including funds appropriated but not spent from previous years. New United States appropriations have been flat for several years, suggesting that future disbursements will likely fall back to prior levels.

While eight of 14 donor governments reduced their spending on global HIV efforts in 2017, increases by the United States and five other donors more than offset these declines. Bilateral aid went up, due to the United States increase. Multilateral contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) also increased.

Donor government funding supports HIV care and treatment, prevention and other services in low- and middle-income countries. The report notes that without new commitments by other donor governments, however, future funding for HIV is likely to return to lower levels.

“UNAIDS is deeply concerned that a lack of sufficient resources will mean more deaths and more new HIV infections that can be prevented,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Even a 20% cut in international funding would be catastrophic for the 44 countries that rely on international assistance for at least 75% of their national HIV responses.”

“This year’s increase is more an anomaly than a trend, as it doesn’t reflect new resources,” said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Jen Kates, Director of Global Health and HIV Policy. “Going forward, the urgency to identify alternative funding sources grows if the global community wants to reach its HIV targets.”

After the United States, the governments making the largest contributions to global HIV efforts include the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (US$ 743.9 million), France (US$ 267.7 million), the Netherlands (US$ 202.6 million) and Germany (US$ 161.9 million).

The new report, produced as a long-standing partnership between the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS, provides the latest data available on donor government funding based on data provided by governments. It includes their bilateral assistance to low- and middle-income countries and contributions to the Global Fund as well as UNITAID. Donor government funding refers to disbursements, or payments, made by donors. Donor contributions to multilateral organizations are counted as part of their disbursements.

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 Kaiser Family Foundation

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.

Monaco has joined a network of more than 250 cities worldwide by signing the Paris Declaration, making a commitment to Fast-Track its response to the HIV epidemic and adopt the 90–90–90 targets.

The 90-90-90 targets are that, by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people living with HIV will have access to antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people on antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.     

At a ceremony attended by Princess Stephanie of Monaco, who is also the President of Fight AIDS Monaco and a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador, the Mayor of the Principality, Georges Marsan, stressed the importance of testing as the entry point to getting people on treatment and keeping them healthy.   

Twice a year since 2012, Monaco has taken its HIV testing campaign to the streets of the principality through its Test in the City campaign. In his speech, the mayor also underlined the importance of preventing new HIV infections.   

In his remarks at the event, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé recalled visiting South Africa with Princess Stephanie in 2009, when just several hundred thousand people in the country had access to antiretroviral therapy to keep them alive and healthy. Today, he said, that number has expanded to 4.3 million people.

Mr Sidibé added that cities had a vital role to play as hubs of innovation and research and that they could help reach forgotten groups of people at risk of HIV infection.  

Also present at the event were Monaco’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Didier Gamerdinger, and the Vice-President of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, Bertrand Audoin.

The China children’s summer camp kicked off it’s annual activities this year in Liangshan, an autonomous prefecture in the south of the Chinese province of Sichuan. Sichuan is one of the largest provinces in China, it is also one of the most affected by HIV which is why this camp is so important. The camp brings together children who are living with HIV and runs under the theme “love in the sunshine”. At the camp the children are encouraged to participate in a wide range of activities in an environment they feel safe in, where they won’t be judged and where they will be respected by the other children and staff.

The event was one of a series of activities the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé was invited to participate in by the First Lady of China as part of UNAIDS and China’s strengthened cooperation and joint commitment for a robust response to HIV both in China and around the world.

One such activity was a visit to the Xichang University. Universities are playing a key role in the response to HIV. Xichang University for example, is encouraging students to actively engage in HIV prevention efforts in the community. During the visit the group, which included the Chinese Vice Minister of Health, joined in Red Ribbon Youth activities and spoke to students about their experiences as HIV prevention volunteers going out into villages to raise awareness of HIV prevention. 

Mr. Sidibé also met with Governor of Sichuan Province Yin Li in Chengdu, who governs over the 80 million strong population who live in the Province. He said that in recent years, HIV prevention and control efforts in Sichuan have made positive progress, a significant step forwards for a province which is home to more people than France or the United Kingdom. He also said that he would like Sichuan to further strengthen its cooperation with UNAIDS to explore more effective ways of stopping HIV and ensuring access to treatment. 

Before arriving in Liangshan, the Executive Director of UNAIDS attended serval important meetings in Beijing including a meeting with the Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan who commended UNAIDS on the robust response to HIV. She said that China stood ready to work together with UNAIDS on HIV prevention and treatment efforts to improve the health and well-being of people around the world.

Mr Sidibé also met with the Chinese National Drug Administration and congratulated the Chinese government for its achievements in drug regulatory reform. China has extensive pharmaceutical production capacity and an important drug regulatory system. He stressed that there are great opportunities for China and Africa cooperation in trade, technology transfer and local production of medicines.

Also in Beijing, Mr. Sidibé joined the community of people living with HIV for a meaningful discussion on the implementation of 90-90-90 in China. He called for more efforts to make HIV testing and immediate treatment become a reality everywhere and to ensure the availability and accessibility of simplified, high quality drug regimens.

The Joint UN team in China is working hand in hand with the Chinese government, partners and communities to achieve "zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths."  On 20 June 2018 the Joint UN team launched its Joint Work Plan on AIDS in China further strengthen efforts to end AIDS in China.

The 42nd meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 to 28 June.

At the opening, the UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, gave an update on the progress made in the AIDS response and outlined the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. He stressed that the progress made in the AIDS response is uneven and fragile and called for renewed focus and shared commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Mr Sidibé also emphasized the need for a transformative approach to the epidemic that will include reforming laws and policies to end discrimination, expand community-led, people-centred approaches to HIV service delivery, the use of timely location–population data to inform decision-making, close the funding gap to achieve the Fast-Track Targets and reinforce the linkages between ending AIDS and achieving universal health coverage.

PCB members were also informed about the proactive actions taken to stamp out sexual harassment, unethical workplace behaviour and all forms of abuse at UNAIDS. These actions include establishing an internal five-point plan to ensure that actions are taken rapidly and effectively against inappropriate behaviour and abuse of authority, but also engaging with external stakeholders, including civil society, to gather valuable inputs on how to strengthen UNAIDS’ work in this area.

Later in the day, the PCB received an update on the process of the establishment of the Independent Expert Panel on prevention of and response to harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying and abuse of power at the UNAIDS Secretariat.

The thematic segment of the meeting will take place on the last day and will focus on ending tuberculosis (TB) and AIDS. The participants will consider the challenges to addressing TB, HIV-associated TB and drug-resistant TB in the context of universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. The participants will also discuss examples of good practice that demonstrate effective collaboration within national TB and HIV programmes and with communities to achieve integrated TB/HIV care and strengthen health systems.

The 42nd meeting of the PCB is being chaired by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with China acting as Vice-Chair and Algeria as Rapporteur.

During his recent visit to China, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé provided an overview of the response to AIDS and the challenges ahead to meet the goal of ending AIDS by 2030 during an interview with Tian Wei from the China Global Television Network (CGTN).

According to Mr Sidibé, ending HIV transmission as well as AIDS-related discrimination will be key to achieve the ambitious targets set as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

GENEVA, 27 June 2018—UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by the Government of Australia confirming an additional AUD 1.3 million (almost US$ 1 million) for the AIDS response. The additional funding, announced at the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting on 26 June 2018, will be used to scale up HIV prevention in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Papua New Guinea. The funds will add to the AUD 4.5 million (US$ 3.3 million) annual contribution to UNAIDS that Australia has pledged for the next five years.

“Australia is a leading advocate in the AIDS response in Asia and the Pacific,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “This additional contribution is an important signal at a time when we need more energy and action in HIV prevention to ensure that everyone, particularly people at higher risk of HIV, can protect themselves against the virus.”

In 2016, around 5.1 million adults and children were estimated to be living with HIV in the Asia–Pacific region, some 270 000 people became newly infected with the virus and 170 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses. Just under half (47%) of all people living with HIV in the Asia–Pacific region had access to antiretroviral therapy in 2016.

Fully funding the work of the UNAIDS Joint Programme is critical to ending the AIDS epidemic and achieving UNAIDS’ vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

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 Global HIV Prevention Coalition has launched its first progress report.

Taking stock of the progress made in strengthening political commitment for HIV prevention and reducing new HIV infections, the report shows that significant progress has been made since the launch of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition six months ago. National prevention coalitions have been established to accelerate and better coordinate responses, new and ambitious prevention programme targets have been set in many countries and HIV strategies that focus on prevention have been launched.

“There are many promising country examples across the coalition we can learn from,” said Sicily Kariuki, the Minister of Health of Kenya.

Good programme examples highlighted at the event include strong condom programmes in some southern African countries and high voluntary medical male circumcision coverage in several eastern African countries. Strong programmes for key populations, including in India and Ukraine, and pre-exposure prophylaxis being rapidly introduced and expanded in Brazil and Mexico, as well as in South Africa and Kenya, were also noted.

However, the progress report also shows that much still needs to be done. Policies on age of consent continue to represent major barriers to adolescents accessing services. Punitive laws and law enforcement practices hinder access by key populations.

“Every day, there are 1000 new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls. Prevention programme gaps remain huge,” said Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

For prevention efforts to be sustainable, civil society should be meaningfully engaged in all national prevention coalitions, and their expertise and comparative advantage in implementation used. HIV prevention also needs to be adequately funded.

“Four main reasons that were holding us back were identified when we formed the coalition: gaps in political leadership, policy barriers to effective prevention, gaps in prevention financing and lack of systematic programme implementation at scale. With the adoption of the Global Prevention 2020 Road Map we committed ourselves to address these issues,” said David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health and Child Care of Zimbabwe.

More than 200 delegates, including 11 ministers of health from coalition countries, as well as ministers from three additional countries that newly joined the coalition—Botswana, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Myanmar—attended the launch event, held on 22 May at the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.