The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) passed a resolution on UNAIDS encouraging accelerated action and investment in the next five years to be on track to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Adopted by consensus on 8 April 2015 during ECOSOC’s coordination and management meeting in New York, the resolution welcomes significant gains made in the AIDS response, while underlying that AIDS is not over and that challenges remain.
The ECOSOC resolution welcomes new UNAIDS data and analysis made available over the last two years, which provide compelling evidence for a fast track response to the AIDS epidemic. It also recognizes that responses and resources should focus on evidence-based interventions and specific locations and populations in order to have the greatest impact. Acknowledging the urgent need to close the AIDS resource gap, the resolution encourages countries to scale up domestic and international funding for the response.
Through the resolution, ECOSOC stresses the value of lessons learned from the AIDS response for the post-2015 development agenda. It cites UNAIDS—the only co-sponsored joint programme of the UN system— as a useful example to be considered by the UN system to enhance strategic coherence, coordination, results-based focus, inclusive governance and country-level impact.
Zimbabwe and Switzerland, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, co-facilitated Member State consultations on the resolution and introduced it to the Council, following the consideration of the 2015 Report of the Executive Director of UNAIDS.
“Ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is no longer seen as a distant dream but as an achievable reality. Advanced data, modelling and analysis developed through the Joint Programme show that there is a critical five-year window of opportunity in which to fast track action and front-load investments, focusing responses where there is the greatest need. This accelerated and focused approach will lay the foundation to end the AIDS epidemic—the next five years will determine the direction of the subsequent ten.”
Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS
“The resolution recognizes how progress on AIDS will enable results for broader health, development and rights outcomes. Ending AIDS as a public health threat can be a distinctive, shared triumph in the coming decades that shows what is possible through mobilized communities and global solidarity.”
Taonga Mushayavanhu, Ambassador of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva
