GENEVA, 17 May 2018—On HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, 18 May, UNAIDS is calling for an increase in research and investment to find an effective vaccine to protect people against HIV and stop new HIV infections. In 2016, around 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV and although the number of new infections has declined in recent years, the world is still far from achieving the UNAIDS Fast-Track Target of reducing new HIV infections to fewer than 500 000 by 2020.

“New HIV infections are not declining fast enough and stopping infections must become a global priority,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “There are 36.7 million people living with HIV today, all in need of costly treatment for life, which will be difficult to sustain over the long term. To truly end AIDS, it is essential to find an effective HIV vaccine and a cure.” 

In mid-2017, more than half (20.9 million) of the 36.7 million people living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines to keep them alive and well. Over the next decade, efforts will be scaled up so that all people living with HIV can access the life-saving treatment. Without a cure or a therapeutic vaccine, millions of people will need to be sustained on lifelong treatment.

Promising steps have been made in recent years, with four large-scale trials currently under way and exciting developments in the pipeline. Innovative approaches to immunization are showing great promise in animal models and an ever-increasing array of highly potent broadly neutralizing antibodies have been discovered and can be engineered to persist in the human body so that we may one day be able to prevent HIV infection with a single injection each year.

Safe and effective vaccines have the potential to change the world. Some infectious diseases that were once commonplace, killing millions and leaving countless people with lifelong disabilities, have become rare. Smallpox has been eradicated, only 17 people developed polio in 2017 and in 2016 the Pan American Health Organization declared that measles had been eliminated from the Americas.

An effective, durable, affordable and safe vaccine for HIV would significantly advance efforts to end AIDS. For the past decade, investments have remained steady, at around US$ 900 million per year, which is less than 5% of the total resources needed for the AIDS response. By scaling up investments in HIV vaccine research, diversifying funding and attracting the best scientists from around the world, a vaccine for HIV could become a reality.

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 May 2018—On the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT), UNAIDS is calling for strengthened partnerships to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and their families living with or affected by HIV or facing discrimination.

“Stigma, discrimination and social and physical violence against sexual and gender minorities prevent them from accessing health services,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Everyone has the right to health, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. For that, we need zero discrimination for everyone, everywhere.”

Gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender women are among the populations most affected by HIV worldwide.

More than 40% of the 100 countries responding to UNAIDS criminalize same-sex relationships. Criminalizing people because of their gender or sexual orientation drives people underground and out of reach of essential health and social services, making them vulnerable to poor health and homelessness.

To end AIDS, it is essential to ensure that people can access HIV prevention technologies, including condoms and PrEP, and quality HIV treatment and care free from discrimination. UN Women, the United Nations Development Programme and UNAIDS are working with the Global Network of People Living with HIV to end all forms of HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The initiative will require rapid multisectoral support and civil society leadership and will contribute to achieving the time-bound commitments of United Nations Member States to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Increasing political commitment and investments for the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in society will help to ensure that no one is left behind.

IDAHOT, a worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversity, is commemorated annually on 17 May. This year’s theme is alliances for solidarity to bring respect for LGBTI people and their families.

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, 10 May 2018— During my recent visit to South Africa, I listened carefully to you, I heard you. The HIV epidemic is inextricably linked to sexual and gender-based violence and the two can never be separated. We need the passion of advocates to move issues forward.

Let us come together and address sexual harassment and gender inequality. A transformative agenda to address sexual harassment and gender inequality is urgent. Let us work together towards it, let us spend our time and energy on this important agenda.

Speaking truth to power is at the core of civil society existence, therefore civil society should never feel threatened to silence because of fear of loss of resources (financial and otherwise). You are an autonomous and critical contributor to the AIDS response, we must preserve that always. Women and men at UNAIDS, in all their diversity, appreciate the support of civil society for standing together with them in solidarity, and in support of women’s equality and rights.

Let us unite the HIV movement around these issues. Working together, we can define a vibrant movement that addresses the intersections between HIV, sexual harassment and gender inequality. In collaboration with you, I am calling for a women’s meeting in Africa to forge the way forward on ending sexual harassment.

I heard you. I listened to all of you. I will act.

Michel Sidibé
Executive Director of UNAIDS
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

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.

A record 3000 delegates from more than 60 countries, including representatives of civil society, scientific institutions, the private sector and governments, gathered in Moscow from 18 to 20 April 2018 to participate in the Sixth Eastern Europe and Central Asia Conference on HIV/AIDS. The conference focused on four major tracks: prevention, science and treatment, civil society, and international cooperation.

Eastern Europe and central Asia is the only region where the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related death are still on the rise. The conference provides a unique opportunity to take stock of progress and discuss the challenges and transformation needed to get the eastern Europe and central Asia region on track to end AIDS.

The keynote speakers at the opening ceremony included Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, Olga Golodets, Vice Prime Minster of the Russian Federation, Anna Popova, Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Consumer Protection and Human Wellbeing, Alexsey Tsoy, Deputy Minister of Health of Kazakhstan, Alexander Pankin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Lyudmila Rastokina, a representative of the Kazakhstan’s Union of People Living with HIV, and representatives of the private sector and others.

Despite the overall increase in HIV-related deaths and infections, in the past two years the eastern Europe and central Asia region has made progress in a few areas. For example, Armenia and Belarus were validated by the World Health Organization as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Most countries of the region adopted the test and treat approach and the average cost of first-line antiretroviral treatment has dropped from almost US$ 2000 per person, per year to less than US$ 200 per person, per year.

A number of key challenges were highlighted at the conference, including the fact that only 3% of total HIV expenditures in the region go for programmes focused on key populations, including people who inject drugs, migrants, sex workers, transgender people, prisoners and men who have sex with men. The region also faces the triple epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C virus which require an integrated approach to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The conference was organized by the Russian Federation’s Federal Service for Consumer Protection and Human Wellbeing and UNAIDS.

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Seven months after launching the catch-up plan in western and central Africa, progress on increasing the numbers of people on antiretroviral treatment continues to lag in the region. Many countries will not reach key targets by 2020 if the current systems remain unchanged.

"Overall we saw a 10% percent increase of people on treatment, which is not enough," said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. "Now, there is even more a sense of urgency."

Mr Sidibé, however, pointed to the success in the Democratic Republic of Congo where there was a clear increase in the number of people living with HIV accessing ARVs. The reasons for the positive trend included civil society and political leadership working closely together as well as community HIV testing and the training of 11 000 health care workers.

"More than ever there is a need to rethink health systems and alternatives for people to access health care," he said.

The call to delegate patient care to communities was a major rallying call during AFRAVIH, the international francophone HIV and hepatitis conference held in Bordeaux, France, early April. Mr Sidibé briefly shared the stage at the opening ceremony with the civil society organisation Coalition PLUS. They declared that the key to success in ending AIDS involved joining forces between doctors and community health workers and giving more leeway to communities to respond to the local needs of their own people.

Under the banner, "De-medicalize" the organisation explained that doctors will never be replaced but that there were too few of them and people living with HIV didn't require acute care.

Coalition Plus' recent report states that governments and the medical practitioners should delegate more tasks to nurses and community health workers. In addition to allowing for more targeted prevention and faster access to treatment, delegation of non-medical tasks would lighten the load on overburdened health systems. West and central Africa represent 17% of the total population living with HIV but 30% of deaths in the region are from AIDS-related illnesses. This is a region, according to UNAIDS and its partners, that can truly benefit from community models of care.

What worries Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is the risk of a significant drop in resources for treatment will hamper recent improvements in west and central Africa. This concern stems from the fact that Global Fund estimates a 30% drop in fund allocations to the region for 2018 – 2020 compared to signed HIV grants in the previous allocation period. In 2016, MSF was among the first to sound alarm bells regarding the region's high HIV death toll and the up to 80% of children unable to access antiretroviral therapy. MSF HIV Policy Advisor and Advocacy Officer Nathalie Cartier said that they supported the west and central Africa catch-up plan but that it needed to be fully implemented. "Political will has been promising but now it's time to make it a reality on the ground so that people living with HIV can reap the benefits," she said.

Global Fund supported the catch-up plan and works closely with countries in order to maximize the impact of the investments. They believe that leveraging additional domestic financing for health is crucial to increase country ownership and build sustainable programs.

All the more reason to decentralize healthcare systems and capitalize on innovations to keep health costs down.  HIV self-testing, new medicines and high impact strategies involving communities are critical to improving efficiencies.  "With point-of-care (POC) testing in communities and homes, delays are minimal between diagnosis and initiating treatment," said Cheick Tidiane Tall, Director of Réseau EVA, a network of pediatric doctors specialized in HIV care. “In the long run, that's a lot of people and resources saved,” he added.

Côte d'Ivoire Infectious and Tropical Diseases professor Serge Eholié couldn't agree more.  "Flexible health care systems capitalizing on various innovations makes a lot of sense," he said. Turning to the Minister of Health in the Central African Republic, Pierre Somse, he asked, 'How do you respond?'

Mr Somse, also a trained doctor, said, "We doctors will stay doctors. However, there is a need for us to lean on communities and vice versa."  He added, "at the heart of the issue are patients and they are and should always be the priority."

Staff from Globo Television visited UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on their way to Cannes, France, for the 2018 Emmy Kids Awards. Globo and UNAIDS were nominated for an Emmy Kids Award in the digital category for the web series Young Hearts—I Just Want to Love, which focuses on a high school romance between a teenager living with HIV and his girlfriend. 

The series was a spin-off from Brazil’s longest running soap opera, Malhação—Seu Lugar No Mundo (Young Hearts—Your Place in the World), a production developed and broadcast by Globo. Among several teen love stories in the season, the one between Henrique and Camilla became a hit with the audience. The soap averages a daily audience of 24 million viewers, mainly pre-adolescents and their parents. UNAIDS, an official partner with Globo since 2015, gave technical advice and support to the writers of the show.

UNAIDS, Globo and Gshow produced the web spin-off, which is available on the Globo streaming platform. The five-episode web series became the third most watched original series on the platform, with almost 1 million views.

Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, congratulated Globo, explaining how media plays a key role in stopping HIV stigma and exclusion. He praised the Globo partnership for using edutainment to reach young people with compelling and relevant HIV information.

Emmanuel Jacobina, the writer of Young Hearts—Your Place in the World for the 2015–2016 season and the web series, said that the idea came from a conversation he had with the UNAIDS team about HIV in Brazil. It disturbed him, he said, that despite there being methods for prevention, tens of thousands of people still become infected with HIV each year in Brazil. As a result, the web series, he said, seemed the best place to push the debate further and speak bluntly about relationships, sexuality and HIV.

The Director of Corporate and Social Responsibility at Globo, Beatriz Azeredo, reiterated the company’s commitment to mobilize Brazilian society around major social issues with television series and public service announcements. Globo’s Director of Communications, Sergio Valente, noted Globo’s presence in more than 100 countries and said that it has a 99% reach in Brazilian homes.

Of the three nominees in the digital category, the award went to the Norwegian series Jenter (Young Girls), produced by NRK.

UNAIDS is working towards ensuring that 90% of young people have the skills, knowledge and capacity to protect themselves from HIV and have access to sexual and reproductive health services by 2020.

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On 4 April, Bordeaux became the latest city to sign up to the Paris Declaration to end the AIDS epidemic in cities. The Mayor of Bordeaux and former French Prime Minister Alain Juppé signed the declaration alongside UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at the opening of AFRAVIH, the international francophone HIV and hepatitis conference being held in Bordeaux, France, from 4 to 7 April.

In signing the Paris Declaration, mayors commit to putting their cities on the Fast-Track to ending the AIDS epidemic. Mr Juppé committed to achieving the 90–90–90 targets—whereby 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—in Bordeaux in the next two years. He also committed to eliminating stigma and discrimination and developing a people-centred approach to the AIDS response. In addition, he said, it was crucial to educate young people on HIV, citing a lack of knowledge among French young people.

Since its launch on 1 December 2014, more than 250 cities and municipalities have signed the Paris Declaration. Leaders in those cities have recognized that their strategies for responding to the AIDS epidemic also offer them a platform to address the need for social inclusion, protection, safety and health.

With more than half of the world’s population currently living in cities and urban areas accounting for a large and growing proportion of people living with HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and other diseases, cities will play an essential role in ending AIDS. The risk of contracting, and vulnerability to, HIV and TB is often higher in urban areas compared to rural areas, owing to a number of reasons, including migration, unemployment and social and economic inequalities.

The AFRAVIH conference will focus on the 90–90–90 targets as well as innovations on HIV treatment and prevention and on scientific advances.

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The H6 combines the strengths of six international organizations to help countries to realize the United Nations Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child strategy. The partnership mobilizes political commitment and resources to transform societies so that women, children and adolescents can realize their rights to the highest attainable standards of health and well-being.

High-level representatives of the six organizations met in New York, United States of America, to shape a shared vision for the H6. During the meeting, which took place on 21 March, health leaders committed to jointly deliver more and faster results in countries.

The Chair of the H6, Michel Sidibé, shared his vision for the partnership, including how it can evolve to meet the demands of the Sustainable Development Goals, including in humanitarian settings, and be a leading platform to advance United Nations reform.

“As a transformative platform, I see the H6 as an outstanding opportunity to rapidly bring United Nations reform to life and deliver results for every woman, child and adolescent on the ground,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The participants were united in their ambition to make the H6 a one-stop shop for countries for strategic policy advice, technical assistance and strategic information. Adolescent health, particularly for 10–18-year-olds, was discussed as a key focus area.

“I see an effective H6 partnership as an important way to drive health impact at the country level for all children, including by better addressing gaps in services for the age group from 10 to18 years old, and by planting the seeds of development in humanitarian contexts,” said Henrietta Fore, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The participants also committed to ensure policy-making in which communities have a voice and decided to build innovative partnerships with stakeholders beyond the United Nations.

Enhanced transparency and accountability of the H6 and reducing fragmentation and duplication in the United Nations system, as well as between the United Nations and the World Bank, will be key to success, as will a strong focus on joint reporting of results. The H6 will also work in close collaboration with the Global Financing Facility and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.

“The United Nations Population Fund is strongly committed to the H6 partnership, which has proven that working in close collaboration and bringing different expertise and experience to the table is not only effective in enabling countries to deliver quality care for the women and girls left furthest behind, but also ensures strong country ownership,” said Natalia Kanem, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.

The H6 principals will now develop a results framework and reconvene in May to review and endorse it. They are aiming to adopt a road map to roll out new ways of working by mid-year.

“Right now, I just want to go to a country where there is peace,” says a young student who fled the conflict in his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His new home is Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Area in the Hoima District of Uganda—the place that will give him a chance to fulfil his dream of a peaceful life.

The Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Area lies on the banks of Lake Albert on the border between southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Uganda. Most of the refugees in Kyangwali are fleeing interethnic conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and making the perilous journey into Uganda on fishing boats across Lake Albert. Since January 2018, approximately 59 000 people have made the crossing. On a normal day 500 refugees arrive; on a busy day it can be as many as 2000.

Families arrive with whatever personal belongings they can carry—from mattresses and cookware to valuables, such as solar panels, piled high among the passengers in the boats. The boat ride can take as little as six hours if people travel in a motorized vessel or as much as 12 hours if they travel by canoe. “Boats sometimes run out of fuel in the middle of the lake and Ugandan marine police have to bail them out,” says Bornwell Kantande, Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Uganda. “Other boats have capsized from overloading—at the peak of the influx of refugees as many as 200 people would pile onto a single canoe.”

Upon arrival at the Kyangwali reception centre, refugees are registered by aid workers and given a wristband for identification purposes. They receive high-energy biscuits and water and those who need it are given emergency health care. Refugees stay at the reception centre for a day or two before being transported to the settlement area, where they are allocated a small plot of land and material and equipment to build temporary shelter while they establish themselves.  

In a recent visit to the reception centre, Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, witnessed first-hand the health services that are offered to newly arrived refugees at its small makeshift clinic. Here refugees obtain access to emergency health care and are informed about the minimum initial service package for reproductive health, which they receive throughout the different phases of new arrival: border crossing; the short stay at the reception centre; before transportation to the settlement area; and during settlement. Services include HIV testing and tuberculosis screening, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services, provision of HIV and tuberculosis treatment to people already on it and other sexual and reproductive health services.

During his visit, Mr Sidibé listened to the stories of many refugees, who told him not only of the impact that dislocation has had on their health and their lives, but also of their aspirations and dreams to make a better life for themselves and their families. “I heard stories of sadness, but also of hope and resilience,” says Mr Sidibé.

Uganda is home to the largest refugee population in Africa, with a population of almost 1.4 million refugees in 13 refugee settlements across the country. The majority of refugees are from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the latter of which has close to five million displaced people—almost as many as in the Syrian Arab Republic.

“It is beyond admirable to selflessly offer refuge to hundreds of thousands of women, children and men who are in need of international protection,” remarked Mr Sidibé. “Uganda’s refugee policy is among the most progressive in the world and is a model for other countries to emulate.”