Credit: UNAIDS

Ahead of the 24th meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) which opens on 22 June 2009, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has published the UNAIDS Governance Handbook.

The Handbook is collection of key documents pertaining to the governance of UNAIDS including the founding ECOSOC resolutions, Memoranda of Understanding between the Secretariat and Cosponsoring organizations, and key Political Declarations related to HIV.

It is intended as a portable reference tool for a wide audience including member states, Cosponsors, PCB non-governmental organizations as well as UNAIDS staff members.

The Handbook includes descriptions of bodies such as the Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations with guiding principles for UNAIDS Cosponsors. It also details non-governmental civil society participation in Programme Coordinating Board. Under Frequently Asked Questions, it explains the membership and composition of the PCB and its decision making process among other things.

“The Handbook will prove to be an invaluable reference tool for a wide audience in and around our Board meeting as it gathers together key documents on the governance of UNAIDS in one portable booklet,” said Helen Frary, UNAIDS Chief Board and UN Relations.

UNAIDS was established through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) resolution 1994/24 of 26 July 1994 to “undertake a joint and co-sponsored United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, on the basis of co-ownership, collaborative planning and execution, and an equitable sharing of responsibility” with six UN-system cosponsoring organizations: UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, UNESCO and the World Bank. This group was joined by UNODC in 1999, ILO in 2001, WFP in 2003 and UNHCR in 2003.

The 24th meeting of the PCB will run in Geneva until 24 June.

Some 260 participants gathered in Lusaka for the 19th Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS governing board meeting. The meeting brought together representatives from government, civil society, donors and the United Nations to push for greater UN action to strengthen country efforts against AIDS.

General view of the participants attending the 19th PCB meeting hold in Lusaka, Zambia, 6-8 December 2006

Mr. Ruphia Banda, Vice-President of Zambia, Mrs. Gunilla Carlsson, Minister of International and Cooperative Development of Sweden, Mrs. Silvia T. Masebo, Acting Minister of Health, Zambia and Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, during a meeting prior to the PCB session.

One of the 19th PCB sessions was chaired by: (from left to right) Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, Mrs. Gunilla Carlsson, Minister of International and Cooperative Development of Sweden, Mr. Ruphia Banda, Vice-President of Zambia, Mrs. Silvia T. Masebo, Acting Minister of Health, Zambia.

Namwene Phiri addressing the participants to the "Keep the Promise" session after receiving a prize for her contribution to the New York and Toronto banners.

Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS addressing the participants to the reception hosted by the Minister of Health of Zambia and the Swedish Minister of the International and Cooperative Development at the 19th PCB meeting hold in Lusaka, Zambia, 6-8 December 2006

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot met with the Delegation from the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the PCB. The DRC has just completed its first democratic elections with the election of President Joseph Kabila. The DRC has been wracked by civil war for a number of years and the elections herald the start of a new era for the DRC. Dr Piot said in the opening plenary that the new era provides an opportunity to step up the pace of the AIDS response in the DRC.

From left to right: Dr Engwanda, Head of NGO’s Forum for HIV/AIDS, DRC, Mr Eusebe Honsounko, UNHCR Representative, DRC, Prof Mashako Mamba, Academic Member of Delegation, DRC, Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, Mme Jaynet Kabila, Head of Kabila Foundation, Dr Pierre Somse, UNAIDS Country Coordinator: DRC, Mr Jean-Pierre Bongo, Head of DRC Network of People living with HIV/AIDS, Mme Annie Faray, Head of NGO Fighting against Sexual Violence, Mr Dede Watchiba, Head of M&E Unit, National Multisectoral Programme.

And calls on Member States to honour their commitment towards agreed HIV targets and goals

GENEVA, 1 July 2013—At its 32nd meeting, the Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) announced its commitment to lay the foundations to end the AIDS epidemic. It added that this commitment included realizing UNAIDS vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero-AIDS related deaths.

The governing body of UNAIDS––the Programme Coordinating Board—concluded its three-day meeting in Geneva calling on UNAIDS to take a prominent leadership and advocacy role in defining the role of the AIDS response in the post-2015 agenda. The board stressed that this should go beyond health, and include areas such as inequality, gender, education, governance and on building effective partnerships.

“The goal of ending the AIDS epidemic should be integrated with the imperative to sustain health and ensure quality of life for billions of people,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “This requires us to develop new leadership and new strategies to advance the future AIDS response post-2015.”

The Board also called on United Nations Member States to honour their commitments towards agreed targets and goals and to sustain and accelerate efforts towards achieving the HIV and health related Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). The Board also approved the 2014-15 Core Budget of the UNAIDS Secretariat and the 11 Cosponsoring organizations at US$ 485 million for the biennium.

During the meeting, Ms Amina Mohammed, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning spoke on leadership in the AIDS response. “You’ve had so much success on the MDG agenda; it’s the one thing we use to show that we can complete an agenda that’s pretty tough,” she said speaking about the response to HIV. “It’s the legitimacy we use to address the post-2015 agenda.”

The members of the Board gathered in Geneva just ahead of the first meeting of the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission: From AIDS to Sustainable Health, which took place on 28 and 29 June in Lilongwe, Malawi. The Commission has been established up to catalyse expertise and political momentum to shape the debate on the future of global health and accelerate progress towards the end of AIDS.

The Programme Coordinating Board meeting—chaired by India, with Australia as vice-chair and Congo as rapporteur—was attended by participants and observers from UN Member States, international organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations. The UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the Board, decisions, recommendations and conclusions from the meeting can be found at: unaids.org.