Today, on World TB Day, we must recognize the urgent need to end the TB epidemic around the world, especially among people living with HIV.

TB remains a leading cause of severe illness and death among people with HIV. According to the World Health Organization Global TB Report 2022, people with HIV are 14-18 times more likely to fall ill from TB compared to people without HIV. About one in three AIDS related deaths were in 2021 were due to TB.  We cannot allow this to continue. We must ensure that all people living with HIV and those vulnerable to TB have access to TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services.

We continue to miss opportunities to deploy the tools we have against HIV / TB co-infection.  Almost half of people living with HIV who developed TB in 2021 were not diagnosed or reported to have TB and coverage of TB preventive therapy among eligible HIV positive persons remains at only 42%.

Like in the responses to HIV and COVID 19, inequalities are the root cause making some people at higher risk of TB, due to social economic, geographic, gender factors and humanitarian and crisis situations. Legal and policy environments also affect access to health services for those who need them the most. We shall not forget that for any health programs to work, we need to put people at the center and engage beneficiaries, particularly the less served communities, to be part and parcel of the planning, implementation and monitoring the response.   

Today on World TB Day, I would like to call on all our partners to redouble efforts to ensure early identification, treatment, and prevention of TB in people living with HIV by scaling up the recommended screening and diagnostic tools, providing integrated quality treatment and care, rolling out short-course TB preventive treatments, and removing barriers that affect the smooth implementation of programs.

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.

On Zero Discrimination Day 2023, commemorated on March 1, UNAIDS highlights the need to remove laws that criminalize people living with HIV and key populations.* The 2023 theme, “Save lives: Decriminalize”, points to the positive impact on health and life outcomes when discriminatory and punitive laws are removed.

In 2021, the world set ambitious law reform targets to remove criminal laws that are undermining the HIV response and leaving key populations behind. Recognizing decriminalization as a critical element in the response, countries made a commitment that by 2025 less than 10% of countries would have punitive legal and policy environments that affect the HIV response.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said:

"Criminalizing laws chase people away from life-saving treatment. Those need to be removed. The only reason people are still dying of AIDS is the inequalities in society, from social norms, from the lack of opportunities in school, etc. and all these come together to make them more at risk."

"At the country level, repealing criminal laws that are driving people away from HIV prevention and treatment is critical.”

These targets are ambitious but they are necessary

Research in sub-Saharan Africa has shown that the prevalence of HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men was five times higher in countries that criminalize same-sex sexual activity compared to those that do not, and 12 times higher where there were recent prosecutions.

Criminalization of sex work increases both the risk of sex workers acquiring HIV and their vulnerability to violence perpetrated by clients, police and other third parties. The criminalization of the clients of sex workers has also been repeatedly shown to negatively affect sex workers’ safety and health, including reducing condom access and use, and increasing the rates of violence.

Decriminalization of drug use and possession for personal use is associated with significant decreases in HIV incidence among people who inject drugs, including through greater access to harm reduction services, reductions in violence and arrest or harassment by law enforcement agencies.

Winnie Byanyima said:

"We have the evidence that when you repeal criminal laws on same-sex relations that the risk of contracting HIV falls, the risk of new infections amongst gay men, MSM, drops significantly.

"To me HIV is a disease but it's more a social injustice. It's driven by inequalities in society. These are not things that can happen without a consensus in the society, so we need everybody on board."

Law reform is therefore critical if we are to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

The targets are ambitious but not impossible

Indeed, recent experience is proving just how possible they are.  In 2022 alone Belgium and Australia have removed laws criminalizing sex work; Zimbabwe decriminalized HIV exposure, non-disclosure, and transmission and the Central Africa Republic reduced the scope of its HIV criminal laws; Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis, Singapore and Barbados have repealed old colonial laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity. Kuwait repealed a law criminalizing the imitation of the opposite sex, a law used to target transgender persons while New Zealand removed travel restrictions relating to HIV.

However, despite such encouraging reforms, the world is not on track to ensure that less than 10% of countries have punitive legal and policy environments that create barriers to accessing HIV services. In 2021, 134 reporting countries explicitly criminalized or otherwise prosecuted HIV exposure, non-disclosure or transmission; 20 reporting countries criminalized and/or prosecuted transgender persons; 153 reporting countries criminalized at least one aspect of sex work; and 67 countries now criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, according to UNAIDS. In addition, 48 countries still place restrictions on entry into their territory for people living with HIV, while 53 countries report that they require mandatory HIV testing, for example for marriage certificates or for performing certain professions. 106 countries report requiring parental consent for adolescents to access HIV testing.

Such laws and sanctions violate international human rights norms and stigmatize and discriminate against already marginalized populations.

Decriminalisation saves lives and helps advance the end of the AIDS pandemic.

* Key populations are communities at higher risk of HIV infection including gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people and people in prisons and other closed settings.

Following a one-week visit to Tanzania and Zanzibar to launch the 2022 Global World AIDS Day report; to commemorate World AIDS Day; and to see first-hand the extraordinary work of joint efforts by the government, partners and communities to end AIDS in Tanzania and Zanzibar, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima issued the following statement:

“I observed strong commitment from the Government of Tanzania, our partners and activists at the frontlines fighting the HIV epidemic.

In particular, I thank Tanzania for hosting the launch event of this year’s World AIDS Day report “Dangerous Inequalities” on 29th November in Dar es Salaam, and for inviting me to join the World AIDS Day commemoration on 1st December in Lindi, Tanzania.

For the report launch, I thank our guest of honour, Hon. Minister George Simbachawene, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, for committing to end inequalities to end AIDS in Tanzania. The civil society representative, Chair of the National Council for People Living with HIV, Ms Leticia Mourice Kapela, added the commitment of communities to the theme “Equalize”, as did Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Godwin Modell, on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

We are honoured by Her Excellency President Samia Suluhu Hassan leading the World AIDS Day commemoration, and grateful for her Government’s commitment to ending the AIDS pandemic. H.E. President Hassan spoke powerfully on the need to overcome inequalities in the AIDS response and called on TACAIDS to reduce inequalities, prevent new HIV infections and address stigma and discrimination. I commend H.E. President Hassan for her country joining the Education Plus Initiative in the lead up to World AIDS Day.

I also congratulate Tanzania for being the first country to join the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children and I thank H.E. President Hassan for agreeing to host and participate in the launch of the Alliance early next year. No baby should be born with HIV, and no child living with HIV should be without treatment.

I welcomed the opportunity to visit the Mukikute Harm Reduction programme in Tanzania, which gives hope and dignity to people who inject drugs. I was uplifted by the passion of this community to mobilize and empower.

I was equally grateful for the opportunity to meet with allies, including ZAPHA+ and the Zanzibar Key and Vulnerable Population Forum (ZKVP-Forum).

Over the past 12 years, Tanzania has been able to reduce new HIV infections by almost 50% and to cut AIDS related deaths by 50%. 86% of Tanzanians who live with HIV are on treatment. I congratulate Tanzania on their leadership in the AIDS response. Together, with the required commitment and resources, and by bringing an end to societal and economic inequalities, we can end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

In closing let me reiterate the commitments that I made to Tanzania and Zanzibar in our joint efforts, namely to:

1. Strengthen UNAIDS presence in Dodoma, the national government capital of Tanzania, to support TACAIDS, Ministry of Health and other Ministries in the AIDS response.
2. Collaborate with the Ministry of Health in hosting the Ministerial launch of the Global Alliance and the development of the country action plan.
3. Move forward Education Plus in Tanzania by ensuring that more children get enrolled in and complete secondary school.
4. Support Tanzania and Zanzibar in the funding request application for the Global Fund HIV/TB grant.
5. Support and strengthen collaboration between the governments of Tanzania and Zanzibar and networks of people living with HIV and other community groups that are vulnerable and at high risk for HIV infection.

I thank the government, civil society and partners of Tanzania and Zanzibar for my visit.

An estimated 80 000 people have taken part in the Kabaka Birthday Run, an annual event that forms part of the celebrations to mark the birthday of Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II of Buganda. For the last three years, the run’s theme has been “Men for Good Health and Ending AIDS by 2030.”  

The run is part of the Kabaka’s five-year campaign to increase the uptake of HIV testing and treatment services, with a particular focus on men and boys. It has yielded remarkable results in the Buganda region, with new HIV infections down more than in any other region of Uganda over the last few years. 

The campaign is called “Men are Stars - Abaami Munyeenye” and connects men and boys aged 15—49 years old to HIV testing, treatment and care services, especially in the areas most affected by the pandemic. Through events such as the Kabaka Birthday Run, the Masaza football cup, the royal boat regatta, traditional campfire centres, school camps, radio and television shows, men and boys learn about the importance of going for regular health check-ups, including for HIV testing.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, who attended the run in Mengo paid tribute to the Kabaka’s contribution to reducing the impact of HIV in Buganda.

“Your Majesty, under your leadership and through your messages to men and boys, Buganda has made remarkable progress against the AIDS pandemic in the last five years,” said Ms Byanyima, “UNAIDS looks forward to strengthening our partnership to reach other vulnerable groups such as young women and adolescent girls and to get Africa on track to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”             

In recognition of his significant contribution to the AIDS response, Ms Byanyima confirmed the Kabaka in his role as UNAIDS Africa Goodwill Ambassador. 

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.

One year after adopting a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, United Nation’s Member States have highlighted the need to work together to speed up progress on implementation.

In advance of the meeting, the UN Secretary General released a report entitled Tackling inequalities to end the AIDS pandemic on the implementation of the political declaration on HIV/AIDS. The report sets out how inequalities and insufficient investment “leave the world dangerously underprepared to confront the pandemics of today and tomorrow”

The AIDS pandemic is responsible for more than 13,000 deaths every week.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) data show that HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are not currently declining fast enough to end the pandemic by 2030 as pledged.

The Secretary General’s report highlights solutions including (a) HIV prevention and societal enablers; (b) community-led responses; (c) equitable access to medicines, vaccines and health technologies; (d) sustainable financing for the AIDS response and wider pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; (e) people-centered data systems and (f) strengthening global partnerships.

The UN Secretary General’s statement to the General Assembly, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray, outlined three immediate steps to reverse current trends and get back on track. “First, we need to tackle intersecting inequalities, discrimination and the marginalization of entire communities, which are often exacerbated by punitive laws, policies and practices”. He called for policy reforms to reduce the HIV risks of marginalised communities including sex workers, people who inject drugs, prisoners, transgender people and gay men. He noted how stigma is obstructing public health: “Stigmatization hurts everyone. Social solidarity protects everyone”.

The second step is ensuring the sharing of health technologies, including long-acting antiretrovirals, to make them available to people in all countries of the world.

The third step is to increase the resources made available to tackle AIDS. “Investments in AIDS are investments in global health security. They save lives – and money.”

In his opening remarks, the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, noted that “equal access to healthcare is an essential human right to guarantee public health, for all. No one is safe until we are all safe. Striving to achieve the 2025 AIDS targets is an opportunity to work together to increase investments towards public health systems and pandemic responses, and to draw on the hard-learnt lessons from the HIV/AIDS crisis for our recovery from COVID-19, and vice versa.”

Over 35 Member States and Observers made statements during the AIDS review, which included contributions on behalf of the Africa Group, the Caribbean Community and the Central American Integration System and the European Union.

Statements emphasised the urgency of stepping up collective action to get on track to meet the 2025 targets, and the importance of an inequalities lens to ensure a successful HIV response.

The President of the General Assembly, the Secretary General, the Africa group, the EU and several Member States stressed the importance of fully financing the HIV response and strengthening investment in Global Health.

The Africa Group, along with many others, spoke about addressing stigma and discriminatory laws which keep people from accessing health care and social services.

The debate made clear that the end of AIDS is possible, but only if countries worked together and were courageous in addressing inequalities. “The most important message today,” noted the Secretary General’s conclusion, “is that if we work together to tackle the inequalities that perpetuate HIV/AIDS, we can still end it as a public health threat by 2030.”

All said in under one minute. This is huge and unequivocal.
The Chef de Cabinet delivers to the UN General Assembly the urgent insistence from the UN Secretary-General that the technologies for new long-acting HIV medicines must be shared globally now. There is no time to lose. pic.twitter.com/t1DWlPsdB3

— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) June 10, 2022

GENEVA, 24 May 2022— At the seventy-fifth World Health Assembly, taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, UNAIDS has urged leaders to tackle the global inequalities that drive pandemics such as HIV and COVID-19. UNAIDS highlighted that respect for everyone’s human rights is essential for achieving health for all.

In her address to the World Health Assembly today, the UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, urged leaders to urgently prioritize the investments needed to stop the AIDS pandemic as well as better prepare the world for future pandemics and ensure health security for everyone.

“The world remains dangerously unprepared to stop today’s pandemics or prevent those of the future because we lack effective plans to ensure access to health technologies and finance trusted community-led organizations for pandemic response,” said Ms Byanyima. “We can beat pandemics and we can protect the health of all if we are bold in tackling inequalities, if we place human rights at the centre of our response.”

Ms Byanyima’s speech touched on three main areas of pandemic preparedness: access, financing and communities.

Communities: to defeat pandemics and protect the health of all people, we need sufficiently financed community-led organizations providing services, doing outreach and providing trusted information as an integral part of the public health response. Communities, who know the situation on the ground best and have the essential relationships of trust, need to be given the resources and the space to lead.

Access: to end AIDS, beat COVID-19 and stop the pandemics of the future, global access to life-saving, pandemic-ending health technologies is critical. We need to replace intellectual property rules that restrict access to life-saving medicines for people in the Global South with those that require technology sharing. This would open up access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments and to new emerging long-acting medicines for HIV prevention and treatment, as well as for medicines for other pandemics.

Financing: our collective health security, and the effectiveness of global pandemic responses, requires that we adequately finance them. This includes fully funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This means too that low- and middle-income countries need to be able to increase health investments through progressive domestic resource mobilization and international solidarity, not be shackled by debt or marginalized in the allocation of the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights.

During the World Health Assembly, UNAIDS applauded the progress made in developing a new pandemic preparedness and response instrument and submitted that it should include the following essential substantive elements:

• Placing human rights at the core of pandemic responses.
• Putting communities at the centre, including participation in pandemic preparedness and response architecture at the national, regional and global levels.
• Ensuring access to health technologies and medical countermeasures as public health goods to allow equitable access by all those in need.
• Building people-focused data systems capable of highlighting inequalities.
• Supporting the health workforce, including community health workers on the pandemic front lines.

UNAIDS also warmly congratulated Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on his reconfirmation as Director-General of the World Health Organization during the World Health Assembly. “Congratulations my brother Tedros! We look forward to continuing our work together to ensure health for all,” said Ms Byanyima.

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 first Arab Forum for Equality, held in Amman on 30-31 May 2022, is organized by the ESCWA and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, and hosted by the Center on International Cooperation at the New York University. This is the inaugural meeting of the Forum, and the theme this year is “Towards inclusive youth employment in the Arab region”.

Following is UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima’s address:

Greetings to all participants at this first and vital Arab Forum for Equality. 

Thank you my dear sister, Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia for inviting me.

I’ll share three lessons that we’ve learnt about inequality.

The first lesson is a worrying one: that inequality which was already extreme is being exacerbated even further.

In 2022, nearly half of humanity, 3.3 billion people are projected to be living below the poverty line of 5.50 USD a day. (Source: Oxfam)

New Oxfam estimates show that over a quarter of a billion more people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022.

A new billionaire has been created every 26 hours since the pandemic began.  The world’s ten richest men have seen their fortunes double. (Oxfam)

A year and a half since the first doses of a COVID vaccine were delivered, 78% of people in the US are fully vaccinated, 69 % in Europe but still under 50% (46.26%) of people in the Arab region. (Our World in Data).

We also see huge inequalities within the Arab region. United Arab Emirates has reached 97% Covid vaccination. But it is a health emergency that Algeria is only at 15 % and Yemen at just 2.2%. (Our World in Data)

Since the onset of COVID19, wealth inequality has considerable increased in the Arab region, with the richest 10% of the population now controlling more than 80% of total regional wealth. (ESCWA)

Social protection expenditures among developed countries in the Arab States are just 4.2 per cent of GDP, lagging far behind the world average of 20 per cent. (ILO)

On average health expenditure across the Arab World is just 5% of GDP, nearly half that of the European Union (9.92%). (World Bank)

The second lesson is even more worrying: that we won’t be on track to overcome health or economic crises until inequalities come down.

These kinds of extreme, intersecting, inequalities increase the risks our societies face from pandemics such as AIDS and COVID-19. And we’ve seen with COVID just how quickly a health crisis is turned by inequalities into becoming a social, a political, an economic crisis.

The third lesson is a hopeful one, but that hope depends on action: inequalities are a political choice. Courageous leaders can tackle inequalities

We can close tax loopholes and tax holidays for companies.

We can go beyond the 15% tax rate agreement for all corporate taxation around the world, up to 25%.

We can ensure taxes are paid where economic activity happens.

We can increase investment in health, education and social protection.

We can reform laws and policies so that they help us reduce harm and risk, not worsen it.

We can change the global trade rules which kept life-saving vaccines locked up in the North

Inequality is a crisis but it is not fate, tackling it is within our hands.

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.

Following are the remarks made by UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima during the graduation ceremony held at the Qwaqwa campus of the University of the Free State, South Africa

The acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Naidoo, Distinguished leaders of this great university, Ladies and gentlemen, Fellow graduands,

I would like to thank very much the University of the Free State Sciences for this honour to be conferred with an honorary doctorate from this great university. I know that through me, you are recognizing the work of all those around the world who advance social justice, particularly who advance the right to health for all. I stand before you humbly and I am proud to join the Kovsie community!

The hall we are in bears the name of a fearless and wise man. Madiba told us that, and I quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. I could not agree more. I was humbled to learn that this university bestowed an honorary doctorate on President Mandela in 2001.

Both my parents were teachers. One was a primary school teacher, the other a secondary school teacher. They were unconventional. They challenged and they encouraged us, their children. They taught us that what matters most in the world is being part of your community and standing up for justice.

For me, as for so many across the African continent, your struggle here for equality in South Africa—a struggle that we all can see is unfinished—is an inspiration. In the awful era of Apartheid even your province’s name, Free State, was itself a bitter irony. Today, whilst the long walk continues, the destination you are working to reach makes your name Free State as beautiful as those words deserve to be.

I wanted to share with you three reflections on freedom. These reflections are themselves inspired in large part by the insights of people from your country, including from the students’ movements of the past and today.

The first is that real freedom is so much more than the freedom to vote or, in the case of your country, the freedom not to be banned. Real freedom comes when every one of us is able to flourish. Central to that is education—which must be a right for all and not a privilege for a few. Every time I visit my home village in Uganda, Ruti, I meet friends of mine who did not have the opportunities I had, whose education was abruptly cut short because of an early marriage, because they had to tend to a sick family member or because they had to work for the family to survive, or they didn’t have school fees. All girls and all boys must be supported to complete a full schooling, and schools must be places of quality learning, of safety, and of empowerment—and, may I add, of joy, of enjoying oneself, one’s youth! The push that you students have made for tertiary education to open up, to reform, to reject the bad from the past, to include all, has been challenging for you, challenging for your institutions—but you have won many important steps forward and you should be congratulated for the progress that you have brought about. Congratulations! Yes, we’ve been following your movements, Rhodes must fall, fees must fall, and you inspired other students around the world to fight for inclusion and equality.

The second reflection is that none of us is free whilst anyone of us is not free. That is why the struggle for freedom needs always to be intersectional. Across the continent and across the world, South Africa has been a beacon for movements that are joined up, resisting racial inequality, embracing gender equality, and embracing equality for LGBTQ people. It is these inclusions that make a world free. So, continue to be that beacon—as a country and as a student and alumni community. Challenge stigmatization, challenge criminalization. Wherever you see anyone who’s put down because of their race, because they are a woman, because they are gay, or trans, stand up for them. Tolerance is not enough—be an ally to all who are marginalized, not only on their side but by their side.

The third reflection is that freedom is never given, it is only ever won. And it is never permanently or fully won in one moment—it must be won again and again and again. All progress has been won through collective movements, through the organising of extraordinary ordinary people. I’ve been part of the women’s movements in Africa, in the world. We’ve made a lot of progress through organizing, through holding hands, in all our diversity. The most important heroes are not those in history books or on podiums like myself, they are you—you working together, forming collectives.

Use the power that your education has given you. And use it to demand accountability and rights, for yourselves and for others. Education enabled me to go from that rural village of Ruti in Uganda, where we had no electricity, no running water, and it led me to serve in our national parliament.I was a member of parliament. It led me to lead an iconic global organisation, Oxfam International, and it led me now to lead the United Nation’s work globally to fight AIDS. From my little village.

But that power that education gave me cannot, never makes me proud in itself. It makes me responsible for what I must do to lift others, to make this world equal and just. My pride is in what I am able to do with others to make the world more just. The qualifications are mere tools to achieve a purpose.

Today is your day. You have achieved so much in getting to this day. I know you are going to celebrate as indeed you should. But let me challenge you. Let me challenge you as you leave this beautiful campus to go into the world to make a difference:

Go out there and work to build a society where every girl and boy gets the full and quality education they deserve.

Go out into the world to build a society that guarantees equality for everyone. That no one should ever again be discriminated for their gender, for their race, for their sexuality. Equality for everyone.

Go out to build collective power, I believe in the power of people. Change only happens through the power of people. Never wait for the right leaders to come and lead, you are the leader who must lead.

A more equal society will be better for everyone—for the rich, for the poor, for the able, for the less able. A more equal society is good for all—it is safer, it is more prosperous, it’s more sustainable, it’s healthier, it’s happier.

At heart I am an optimist. I want to tell you a story. This is my last challenge. You are shaped by the history of your country. The rest of us in Africa, particular of my generation, are shaped by the history of our continent including the history of your country. We watched, we followed what happened in this country and we waited for your independence, because it was going to be the independence of our entire continent. Let me tell you, when you were free, we all came rushing to see South Africa and South Africans, because for many, many years our passports had a stamp that said: “Valid for all countries except the Republic of South Africa”. We were not allowed to step here while there was still Apartheid. That was the resistance from the rest of Africa. So, when you were free we came rushing to see the remaining part of our continent come free. When my turn came and I arrived at the airport Johannesburg, it wasn’t even yet called O.R. Tambo airport, it had another name, when I arrived, I saw many young women at the immigration desk and I brought my passport to one of them. And she looked at me with a big smile and said “Welcome to South Africa” and I said “thank you”. Then she said “How is it out there in Africa?” I said “Africa?” “Yes, out there where you’re coming from, how is it in Africa?” It hit me that this young woman had not yet had consciousness that South Africa was part of Africa. And of course, I got into a discussion with her that this is Africa where you are. And she said “Ok, I know, but I mean there where you are.” So, this is my last challenge to you, my fellow graduands, you are coming from a history that cut you off from the rest of your continent. But what I leave with you is this—it’s a challenge and it’s a blessing: go out there and be proud Africans. Embrace your whole continent. Go out there knowing we have one history as a continent and we have one destiny as a continent. And serve your continent and make the most of it.

So, it’s not only an honour for me to receive this honorary degree and I thank you so much for it. It’s an honour for me to share this day with you, graduands, and to bless you as the future, or maybe let me say, the present of Africa.

I thank you.
 

On World Tuberculosis Day 2022, UNAIDS is calling for urgency in diagnosing and treating TB as TB deaths among people living with HIV rise for the first time after years of progressive decline

GENEVA, 23 March 2022—Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one third of AIDS-related deaths globally. Coordinated and scaled up efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat the two diseases had resulted in a 68% decline in TB deaths among people living with HIV between 2006 and 2019. However, in its 2021 Global Tuberculosis Report, the World Health Organization announced that TB deaths among people living with HIV increased for the first time in 13 years, from 209 000 in 2019 to 214 000 in 2020.

“The increase in TB deaths among people living with HIV is alarming and demonstrates the fragility of pandemic progress,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “When COVID-19 hit, global attention on HIV and TB shifted as the world focused on tackling the new pandemic. This has meant lives needlessly lost and important targets missed for HIV, TB and other diseases. Urgent action and increased investments are needed to get us back on track.”

People living with HIV are 18 times more likely to develop TB disease. Although around 85% of people who develop TB disease can be successfully treated, the treatment success rates for people living with HIV are much lower, at around 77%. This demonstrates the importance of scaling up prevention efforts as well as treatment for the two diseases.

Concerted and collective action in this area has saved lives in recent years. Between 2018 and 2020, some 7.5 million people living with HIV were given preventive TB treatment, surpassing the global target of 6 million. But much more needs to be done to address the underlying inequalities that continue to fuel the spread of HIV and TB.

Refugees and displaced people are at particularly high risk of developing TB. At the end of 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 82.4 million people around the world were displaced from their homes. The war in Ukraine has already forced 3.5 million people to flee the country and millions more are internally displaced. It is critical that Ukraine and its neighbouring countries receive urgent support to provide essential health services for people affected by the war, including services for TB and HIV.   

“In this time of crisis, there is an opportunity to build a pandemic-resilient future if leaders work together to tackle the inequalities that endanger us all,” said Ms Byanyima. “While AIDS, TB and COVID-19 each spread in unique ways, we are watching as each is driven by social and economic inequality that leaves some communities more vulnerable and the whole world at risk. We can address those inequalities, or we can let these pandemics continue—the power is in our hands.”

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) is the leading international funder of TB programmes; however, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of people treated for TB in the countries where the Global Fund invests fell by around 1 million. This year, at its seventh replenishment, the Global Fund is calling for an additional US$ 18 billion to save 20 million lives and get the world back on track towards ending HIV, TB and malaria. To end the three diseases by 2030 and build strong national health systems to respond to emerging pandemics, it is essential that the Global Fund be fully funded.

UNAIDS is continuing to work with partners to reach the HIV/TB targets set for 2025, which include ensuring that 90% of people living with HIV receive preventive treatment for TB and reducing TB-related deaths among people living with HIV by 80% (from a 2010 baseline). To make this happen will require the Global Fund to be fully funded and that investments be made in research and development, in expanding services as well as in adopting new and innovative strategies to reach everyone in need.

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.