On 16 July, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé joined Deborah Birx, the United States Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, in opening the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) annual meeting, which this year was held in Durban, South Africa, immediately prior to the 21st International AIDS Conference.

Mr Sidibé offered opening remarks in a session entitled, “Leadership, diplomacy, and partnership to move policy to practice.” He was joined at the podium by Tony Fauci, of the United States National Institutes of Health, and Eric Goosby, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tuberculosis. Addressing the group, which included PEPFAR staff, civil society, national governments and multilateral organizations, Mr Sidibé reminded participants that when the conference was last held in Durban, few people had access to treatment, but now, through the power of science, medicine and social change, the reality had changed. 

In describing PEPFAR’s goals for the next year, Ms Birx noted her commitment to the Fast-Track response, including dramatically scaling up access to treatment. Projections show that by the end of 2017, seven PEPFAR-supported countries should reach the first two of the three 90–90–90 targets (i.e. 90% of people living with HIV tested and 90% of people tested accessing antiretroviral therapy).

Additional sessions during the annual meeting focused on the role of communities, key populations, prevention for young women and girls and country action to adopt the World Health Organization’s test-and-start guidelines.

Speaking to the closing session of the meeting, Luiz Loures, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, pledged UNAIDS’ continuing commitment to working in full partnership with PEPFAR, civil society and affected communities to ensure that this moment to drive rapid progress towards the Fast-Track Targets is not lost.