At a high-level ministerial meeting convened by the Minister of Health of Zimbabwe, David Parirenyatwa, in partnership with UNAIDS, more than 11 ministers of health from eastern and southern Africa called for both policy and programmatic action in order to revitalize HIV prevention, with a continued focus on the scale-up of HIV treatment. The meeting took place at UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 25 May, on the sidelines of the 69th session of the World Health Assembly. 

The ministers called for renewed commitment and accountability on HIV prevention by countries in eastern and southern Africa. They noted that increased investment in HIV prevention, in particular for primary prevention at the local level, is required. The ministers committed to further scaling up effective combination prevention packages and launching a regional leadership platform with both health and non-health sector leaders to drive the agenda on revitalizing HIV prevention in the region. 

Countries in eastern and southern Africa have made progress in reducing new HIV infections among adults, from 1.3 million new HIV infections in 2000 to 840 000 in 2014. However, there were 100 000 more new HIV infections in 2014 among females 15 years and older than among their male counterparts.

The participants also included representatives of the Southern African Development Community, the East African Community, United Nations agencies and development partners.