GENEVA, 12 December 2014—The 35th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board reaffirmed its commitment to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and encouraged United Nations Member States to push for this goal to be fully reflected in the final agreement on the post-2015 development agenda.
During the meeting, UNAIDS Board members recognized the value of the Joint Programme’s experience in relation to multisectoral collaboration, issue-specific partnership and the inclusive governance model, in particular the participation of civil society. Board members agreed that this UNAIDS model was relevant for the United Nations system’s response to a post-2015 development agenda that leaves no one behind.
Urging action towards the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030, the Board noted compelling evidence to Fast-Track the AIDS response over the next five years. To accelerate action and investment, the Board requested UNAIDS to update and extend its strategy through 2016–2021.
Board members called on states to take steps to implement the 90–90–90 treatment strategy, to set ambitious targets for HIV prevention and to reduce stigma and discrimination among people seeking HIV services. The Board highlighted the particular need to improve treatment options for children living with HIV, which are currently significantly lacking.
The UNAIDS Board emphasized the need to support low- and middle-income countries to scale up access to essential HIV treatment. They also urged UNAIDS to support low- and middle-income countries to leverage existing flexibilities in international trade agreements to improve access to treatment and to review current national patent laws.
Presenting his report to the Board, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, underlined the importance of accelerating the AIDS response. “We are at a pivotal moment. We need to mobilize political commitment, identify approaches that accelerate action and focus global efforts and resources on doing the right thing.”
The meeting concluded with a full-day thematic segment on halving HIV transmission among people who inject drugs. Participants underlined the critical need for renewed efforts to reduce transmission of HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs, towards the 2030 goal of ending the AIDS epidemic.
Participants and observers from United Nations Member States, international organizations, civil society and nongovernmental organizations attended the meeting, which was chaired by Australia, with Zimbabwe as Vice-Chair and El Salvador as Rapporteur. The Board elected Zimbabwe as Chair, with Switzerland as Vice-Chair and Ukraine as Rapporteur for 2015.
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.
