Press release and statement archive

UNAIDS is deeply saddened at the passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who fought against apartheid in South Africa and combated racism and injustice worldwide. He was a powerful voice in the fight against AIDS, combating denial, demanding access to treatment for all, calling out against discrimination of people living with...

The United States Food and Drug Administration announced its first approval of a long-acting HIV prevention medication earlier this week. The long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB - LA) is approved as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for adults and adolescents who are at risk of acquiring HIV sexually in the United States...

UNAIDS welcomes the announcement from the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres of the appointment of Catherine Russell as the new Executive Director of UNICEF.

The 49th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), which commenced on 7 December 2021, closed on 10 December.

As we commemorate Universal Health Coverage Day 2021, the world is entering year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is safe until everyone is safe. It shows how pandemics expose intersecting inequalities among people, countries and communities.

On International Human Rights Day, UNAIDS is calling for concrete action to prevent and respond to systemic human rights violations that create and exacerbate inequalities.

As the 21st International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) opens in Durban, South Africa, UNAIDS is calling for urgent measures to be taken to reduce the inequalities fuelling the twin pandemics of HIV and COVID-19. The mainly virtual event is being held against the backdrop...

Children today are leading the charge on a number of global issues – be it girls’ education, be it climate change or HIV. We have at least two world leaders on the issue of girls’ education and of climate change – Malala and Greta – who began their leadership as...

Botswana has become the first high-burden country to be certified for achieving an important milestone on the path to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV by the World Health Organization (WHO).

With millions of lives on the line, UNAIDS and WHO World AIDS Day event saw global partners, including Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, urgently call for expanded access to health treatments and technologies and for human rights to be upheld

There is not a choice to be made between ending the AIDS pandemic that is raging today and preparing for the pandemics of tomorrow. The only successful approach will achieve both. As of now, we are not on track to achieve either.

On 1 December, we mark World AIDS Day. This year marks a sombre anniversary. On 5 June 2021, it was forty years since disturbingly unexplained cases of illness and death – later called AIDS – were first officially tabulated. These four decades have yielded enormous medical and scientific progress –...

UNAIDS issued a stark warning today that if leaders fail to tackle inequalities the world could face 7.7 million* AIDS-related deaths over the next 10 years. UNAIDS further warns that if the transformative measures needed to end AIDS are not taken, the world will also stay trapped in the COVID-19...

UNAIDS welcomes the first licensing agreement under the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) initiative, negotiated between Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain’s High Council of Scientific Research) and the Medicines Patent Pool.

“Ending gender-based violence requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach. But I am convinced that if decision-makers, at a minimum, push on these key actions, we will have a win–win for everyone: less violence against women and girls and fewer women and girls acquiring HIV or falling through the cracks in accessing...

Having experienced major shortfalls in funding since 2015, UNAIDS convened donors, partners and Programme Coordinating Board members in Geneva, Switzerland, for a dialogue to help bolster UNAIDS’ efforts in supporting countries to end AIDS by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A three-day regional summit on HIV/AIDS held in Dakar, Senegal, has concluded with a call to action that urges stronger support for community-led responses, policies driven by science and data, increased investment in the HIV response and putting HIV at the centre of pandemic preparedness and response. In his closing...

On International Drug Users’ Day, UNAIDS is calling for urgent action against the criminalization of people who use drugs, for the redress of criminalization’s negative effects on HIV, viral hepatitis and other health issues, for the respect of human rights and for more funding for community-led harm reduction programmes.

The AIDS epidemic in western and central Africa is an ongoing emergency. The early gains made against HIV in this region have not been translated into the sustained progress that has been made in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

UNAIDS welcomes the agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme through which the intellectual property rights over an antiviral medicine to treat mild to moderate forms of COVID-19 in adult patients are shared with interested sub-licensees on a non-exclusive and transparent basis...

UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by New Zealand that it has removed all travel restrictions for people living with HIV. The recent decision by Immigration New Zealand to remove HIV from the list of medical conditions deemed likely to impose significant costs or demands on New Zealand’s health services means that...

At a time when millions have lost work, Queen Kennedy got a new job. As a woman living with HIV in Nigeria, she answered the call to become a community pharmacist. Lockdowns lowered access to HIV treatment and prevention. But through an International Community of Women Living with HIV West...

The UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) has approved, at a special session, the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) for 2022–2026 and the UNAIDS budget for 2022 and 2023. The approved budget is set at up to a threshold of US$ 210 million per year.

UNAIDS warmly welcomes the intent of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, to nominate John Nkengasong as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally at the Department of State.

UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by Chile that it recognizes international responsibility for violating the rights of a woman living with HIV who was sterilized without her consent almost 20 years ago. The government has agreed a friendly settlement with the woman, Francisca, that includes the payment of reparations for the...

Almost half (46%) of the world’s 1.7 million children living with HIV were not on treatment in 2020 and 150 000 children were newly infected with HIV, four times more than the 2020 target of 40 000

The UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2021, launched today, highlights evidence that people living with HIV are more vulnerable to COVID-19, but that widening inequalities are preventing them from accessing COVID-19 vaccines and HIV services.

UNAIDS is shocked and saddened by the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the President of Haiti, during an attack by gunmen at his private residence. It also sends its sincere hopes that the First Lady, Martine Moïse, will recover from the injuries that she sustained during the incident.

UNAIDS strongly condemns the attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists and journalists at Tbilisi Pride’s offices and surrounding areas, which have forced the cancellation of Gay Pride events in the city. UNAIDS expresses its solidarity with all LGBTI people in Georgia.

UNAIDS is deeply concerned by new legislation in Hungary that includes discriminatory amendments against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.

Unequal gender power dynamics continue to put women and girls at higher risk of acquiring HIV. Six out of seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years in sub-Saharan Africa are among girls and 4200 adolescent girls and young women between 15 and 24 years became...

The 48th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), which commenced on 29 June 2021, closed on 2 July.

Celebrities and supporters of the global HIV response take part in a new UNAIDS film and social media campaign calling on world leaders to address the inequalities driving the HIV epidemic to end AIDS by 2030

UNAIDS is deeply saddened by the death of the first President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, and expresses its sincere condolences to his family, his friends and the country.

After weeks of robust discussions, the 2021 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS is drawing to a close with the adoption of a new, ambitious and achievable Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030. The declaration is based...

World leaders agree to reduce the annual number of new HIV infections to under 370 000 and AIDS-related deaths to 250 000, eliminate new HIV infections among children, end paediatric AIDS and eliminate all forms of HIV-related discrimination by 2025. They also committed to providing life-saving HIV treatment to 34...

UNAIDS urges world leaders to adopt a bold political declaration on HIV at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, being held in New York and online next week, and to commit to achieving a new set of targets for 2025 to end AIDS by 2030

UNAIDS strongly welcomes the report and recommendations of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response. Amongst others, the panel calls for the establishment of a Global Health Threats Council with participation at the highest political level to coordinate global action against pandemics and secure agreement between governments in aligning...

UNAIDS is deeply concerned by the Ugandan parliament’s decision earlier this week to adopt the Sexual Offences Bill 2019, which includes provisions that further criminalize entire groups of people, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, sex workers and people living with HIV. The bill criminalizes same-sex sexual...

I applaud the announcement from United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai supporting the waiving of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

Forty years since the first AIDS cases were reported and just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, the United Nations Secretary-General has released a new report with recommendations and targets to get the world back on track to end AIDS

Norman Fowler, the pioneering United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health, human rights campaigner and respected Lords Speaker, will champion law reform, health for all and girls’ education worldwide to help end HIV as an ambassador for UNAIDS.

The government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) has informed UNAIDS that funding for UNAIDS for 2021 is confirmed at GBP 2.5 million, compared to the GBP 15 million received by UNAIDS from the UK for 2020.

Disruption to HIV services as high as 75% has been reported in some countries—to prevent increased AIDS-related deaths, HIV services must continue during the COVID-19 pandemic

On World Health Day 2021, let us make that call to ensure that people’s lives come before profits. Let governments make the commitment that they will guarantee that everyone, without discrimination, has access to quality health care. The right to health is an inalienable human right.

The new Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026, End Inequalities, End AIDS, is a bold approach that uses an inequalities lens to close the gaps preventing progress to end AIDS

UNAIDS warmly welcomes the passing of the US$ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The historic legislation will deliver much-needed relief in the light of COVID-19, both in the United States of America and around the world.

As the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate and fatalities rise, UNAIDS is warning that the violence also threatens access to life-saving essential services, including services for people living with and affected by HIV.

UNAIDS is saddened by the news that His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini has died and conveys its sincerest condolences to the Zulu royal family and to the wider Zulu nation.

The UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, has met the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to discuss the country’s response to the colliding pandemics of HIV and COVID-19. The meeting was part of Ms Byanyima’s three-day visit to the country, which also included visits to communities on the frontline of the...

Women leaders have provided a guiding light for the world in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, from heads of government to coordinators of grass-roots social movements. They have reminded the world how crucial it is to have critical numbers of women, in all their diversity, in positions of leadership.

Ending inequalities will advance the human rights of all, make societies better prepared to beat COVID-19 and future pandemics and support economic recovery and stability.

UNAIDS welcomes the United Nations General Assembly decision for a high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS to take place from 8 to 10 June 2021. The high-level meeting will review the progress made in reducing the impact of HIV since the last United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV...

UNAIDS warmly welcomes the appointment of Andrew Spieldenner as the Executive Director of MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights. MPact has been working since 2006 at the intersection of sexual health and human rights for gay and bisexual men and is linked to more than 120 community-based...

UNAIDS warmly welcomes the announcement by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, that he has rescinded the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy (PLGHA, previously known as the Mexico City Policy). The policy required foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they would not perform or...

UNAIDS is deeply troubled and concerned about the detention by military police of the Venezuelan citizens and humanitarian workers Johán León Reyes, Yordy Bermúdez, Layners Gutiérrez Díaz, Alejandro Gómez Di Maggio and Luis Ferrebuz, who are members of the nongovernmental organization Azul Positivo. The five have been held since 12...

UNAIDS is concerned that the vilification of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Uganda could lead to heightened violence, stigma and discrimination against them and reduce their access to HIV and other essential services. In a recent media interview, the President, Yoweri Museveni, described being LGBT as a...