GENEVA, 30 October 2015—At its 37th meeting, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board adopted a new strategy to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy is one of the first in the United Nations system to be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, which set the framework for global development policy over the next 15 years, including ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
With a universal agenda, firmly grounded in evidence and rights-based approaches, the strategy maps out the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to accelerate the AIDS response over the next five years to reach critical HIV prevention and treatment targets and achieve zero discrimination. Members of the Board from across all regions called the strategy bold, ambitious, yet achievable, and praised the highly inclusive and consultative process to develop it.
In his opening address, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, described the strategy as an urgent call to front-load investment, to close the testing gap, to increase focus and financing for HIV prevention and to protect the health of the 22 million people living with HIV who are not yet accessing treatment. He said that the strategy would be an instrument for social justice and dignity.
“Our transformative strategy pushes us to cover more ground than ever before,” said Mr Sidibé. “It obliges us to address the critical linkages between health, injustice, inequality, poverty and conflict.”
The Board also approved UNAIDS’ operational framework and the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) for 2016–2021, which will translate the strategy into action at the national, regional and global levels. The strategy and UBRAF are powerful tools to accelerate the global AIDS response and guide the work of the Joint Programme.
The Board underlined the importance of innovation and partnership in tackling complex interconnected development and health challenges and stressed that the space the strategy and UNAIDS provides for discussion is unique.
During the dedicated thematic day, the Board discussed the importance of shared responsibility and global solidarity for an effective, equitable and sustainable HIV response. It was agreed that the most critical next step for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will be to have clarity on the means of implementation. Participants emphasized that multisectorality and equitable, transparent and inclusive governance are central bases for effective shared responsibility and global solidarity, and that the AIDS response—and in particular UNAIDS—provides an important model to be replicated for other health, development, gender and rights outcomes.
Representatives of Member States, international organizations, civil society and nongovernmental organizations attended the meeting, which was chaired by David Parirenyatwa, Minister of Health and Child Care of Zimbabwe. Switzerland served as Vice-Chair and Ukraine as Rapporteur. At the meeting, Switzerland was elected as the 2016 Chair, Ghana as Vice-Chair and Ecuador as Rapporteur.
The UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the Board and the Board’s decisions can be found at unaids.org.
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.
