UNAIDS welcomes the judgement by the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi recognizing that coerced sterilization of women living with HIV is a violation of their human rights.
The 51 st meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board concluded today, with commitments to bold action to get the world on track to end AIDS by 2030. The meeting, which brings together member states, civil society and UN agencies, saw a series of pledges made and agreements for joint...
Community-led responses are a critical part of the AIDS pandemic response, and must be prioritised in resourcing. The approach, set out by governments, civil society organisations and United Nations agencies at an international meeting on AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will also be key for tackling other pandemics and for...
UNAIDS welcomes the judgement by the High Court in Barbados to strike down the country’s colonial-era gross indecency and buggery laws that criminalised consensual same-sex relations.
UNAIDS welcomes confirmation from the United Kingdom that it will be increasing its funding to UNAIDS from £2.5 million in 2021 to £8 million in 2022. UNAIDS also welcomes plans being finalized for a multi-year funding agreement between UNAIDS and Ireland for the period 2023 to 2026.
UNAIDS warmly welcomes the appointment of Erika Castellanos as the new Executive Director of GATE (Global Action for Trans Equality). GATE works to ensure justice and equality for trans, gender diverse and intersex communities through strategic partnerships with diverse global entities, including UNAIDS and other United Nations bodies and mechanisms.
The 51st meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) will be held from December 13 - 16 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The meeting is hosted by the Government of Thailand as Chair of the 2022 PCB. It is the first time in 14 years that the board will meet outside Geneva...
On International Human Rights Day, UNAIDS is highlighting that the AIDS pandemic will only be ended if the human rights of all people are fully respected.
The 2020 Kazakhstan Code on Public Health and Health Care System guaranteed the right of people living with HIV to adopt children. However, certain bylaw regulations remained that created barriers for people living with HIV to enjoy the right to adopt children. On 1 December 2022, the day the world...
UNAIDS welcomes South Africa's Cabinet's proposal to repeal criminalisation and to protect sex workers against abuse and exploitation.
UNAIDS and the Australian Government have signed a new five-year strategic partnership agreement to advance efforts to respond to HIV in the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement will help to intensify efforts to get back on track to end AIDS by 2030, by addressing the inequalities that hamper the global HIV...
Responding to the scrapping of the colonial era law which had criminalised gay men, UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific region Taoufik Bakkali said: “Everyone benefits from decriminalisation. The end of the criminalisation will save lives.
Today is a moment to honour over 40 million lives lost to AIDS, take stock of the AIDS response, and commit to ending AIDS. This week we launched a powerful new report, Dangerous Inequalities. In it, we called the world’s attention to a painful reality: currently, we are not on...
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Analysis by the UN ahead of World AIDS Day reveals that inequalities are obstructing the end of AIDS. On current trends the world will not meet agreed global targets on AIDS. But the new UNAIDS report, Dangerous Inequalities, shows that urgent action to tackle inequalities can get the AIDS response...
Responding to the decision of the Russian Duma to pass a further extension of the so-called “LGBTQ propaganda law”, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima reiterated her deep concern about the damaging consequences of such laws for public health.
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UNAIDS is calling on the world to unite to end gender-based violence in all its forms and to challenge the gender inequities driving the HIV pandemic.
Major donors today announced funding increases to support UNAIDS’ evidence driven, human rights-based work to end AIDS. During a deep dive dialogue at UNAIDS global centre in Geneva the Netherlands and Germany announced additional resources for UNAIDS, in addition to resources already pledged.
UNAIDS Executive Director calls for immediate investment of $35 million in end-of-year funding and a commitment to increase the operating budget to $210 million for 2023
The peace agreement will facilitate access to health services including access to HIV services amidst reports of stock-outs of antiretroviral treatment and people going without access to the life-saving medicines
UNAIDS is alarmed that fighting between government forces and rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is causing serious disruption and harm to treatment, prevention and care services for people living with and affected by HIV.
Responding to the statement by the Russian government that it intends to extend the so-called “LGBTQ propaganda” law, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima has joined with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in expressing deep concern.
As global health leaders arrive in Berlin for the World Health Summit, UNAIDS is calling on countries to challenge the inequalities and injustices that are obstructing efforts to end the HIV pandemic and weakening responses to other health threats.
In 2020 highly indebted countries already used four times more of their revenues on debt repayments than on health investments, reveals UNAIDS report A Pandemic Triad. The report was presented at an event hosted by Georgetown University in Washington DC during the Annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)...
HIV experts and implementers from around the world join UNAIDS in South Africa to set targets and put precision prevention programming into practice
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has today announced the appointment of UNAIDS two Deputy Executive Directors. Angeli Achrekar, who is currently Principal Deputy U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, PEPFAR, will be UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director for the Programme Branch. Christine Stegling, who is currently Executive Director of Frontline AIDS, will be...
Just one day after record resources were pledged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Ministers of Health of Africa, global health leaders and partners were united by UNAIDS and PEPFAR to sustain their commitment to end AIDS and accelerate their response to current and future pandemics.
Only half (52%) of the 1.7 million children living with HIV around the world had access to life-saving treatment in 2021, compared to 76% of adults. A recent report by UNAIDS, In Danger showed that every six minutes a child under the age of 15 died of AIDS last year...
UNAIDS congratulates donors for increasing their contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). Donors pledged US$ 14.25 billion to support efforts to end the three pandemics with more funding set to come. Donors made their pledges at the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference hosted...
At the Transforming Education Summit in New York it was announced that 12 African countries* have committed to Education Plus, a bold initiative to prevent HIV infections through free universal, quality secondary education for all girls and boys in Africa, reinforced through comprehensive empowerment programmes.
UNAIDS is calling on countries and donors to fully fund the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by pledging a total of at least US$ 18 billion at the Seventh Global Fund Replenishment Conference hosted by President Biden in New York this week.
Queen Elizabeth II was a great friend of the United Nations and spoke very movingly of its work and its values, including in her famous address to the UN General Assembly in 1957.
UNAIDS warmly welcomes Germany’s pledge of €1.3 billion for the 7th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an increase of 30% on the country’s contribution of €1 billion made in 2019. The announcement is a significant step towards reaching the goal of raising at least...
UNAIDS welcomes a St. Kitts and Nevis High Court ruling that laws criminalizing gay sex are unconstitutional, meaning that they are immediately struck from the legal code. The Court upheld the plaintiffs’ claim that Sections 56 and 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act violated the right to privacy...
UNAIDS applauds Singapore’s announcement that it will repeal section 377a of the country’s penal code which criminalizes consensual sexual relations between men. The law, which dates back to 1938 when Singapore was under British colonial rule, punishes gay consensual sex by a prison sentence of up to two years.
Thanks to the dedication of thousands of scientists around the world, the determined organizing of civil society groups, and the support of key policy makers, the issues lifted up at AIDS2022 could enable a turning point in the global AIDS response. The new UNAIDS report released at the conference, In...
Globally, only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment. UNAIDS, UNICEF, and WHO have brought together a new alliance to fix one of the most glaring disparities in the AIDS response.
Global AIDS leaders have joined forces in issuing a strong warning that derailing of progress to end AIDS is putting millions of people in danger. They came together to launch UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2022, ahead of the opening of the 24th International AIDS Conference currently taking place in Montreal...
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) welcomes the latest data released by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which demonstrate the life-saving impact of PEPFAR funding and programmes on countries and communities. UNAIDS also applauds the continued, strong bipartisan leadership of the United States in...
UNAIDS welcomes the agreement between ViiV and the Medicines Patent Pool to enable access to generic formulation of long acting Cabotegravir for PrEP to 90 low- and lower-middle income countries.
Progress in prevention and treatment is faltering around the world, putting millions of people in grave danger. Eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa have all seen increases in annual HIV infections over several years. In Asia and the Pacific, UNAIDS data now...
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UNAIDS today called on governments to respond urgently to the World Health Organization declaration of Monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. WHO has received reports over 16 thousand cases in 75 countries. The outbreak is occurring particularly, but not exclusively, among gay men and other men who...
Leaders meeting at the Africa Union summit in Lusaka, Zambia, have pledged their support for the Education Plus initiative at its continental launch, commiting to take action to keep adolescent girls in school, which will dramatically reduce their vulnerability to HIV.
UNAIDS applauds the ruling of the Antigua and Barbuda High Court of Justice that effectively decriminalises consensual same-sex sexual activity by holding that sections 12 and 15 of the Caribbean country’s 1995 Sexual Offences Act are unconstitutional.
UNAIDS congratulates the Argentinian Congress on the approval of a new law on a comprehensive response to HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The bill, which has had input from a number of civil society organizations, replaces 30-year-old legislation and changes the country’s health approach from a...
The 50th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) which began on 21 June has closed with decisions to strengthen access to HIV services for the people most vulnerable to the HIV pandemic and measures to help close the funding gaps in the global HIV response, including financing for...
The leaders of UNAIDS, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief have made a powerful joint call for a fully funded global AIDS response during the 50th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), taking place in...
The Executive Director of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyima , has been conferred with an H onorary D octorate from Cranfield University at a ceremony held on 2 3 June 2022 at its campus in Bedfordshire , United Kingdom .
Addressing the UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board, governments have begun to pledge new investments to advance the end of AIDS.
This year’s UNAIDS performance report demonstrates how the UN Joint Programme on HIV and AIDS has critically contributed to key areas of the global HIV response and to saving lives, even in the face of the severe challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and financial shortfalls impacting the...
UNAIDS applauds the decision by the Supreme Court to issue directions on protecting the wellbeing and fundamental rights of sex workers under the Indian constitution, including the right to life and liberty with respect for an individual’s dignity.
In advance of the meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board taking place 21-24 June, UNAIDS is reporting publicly on the steps taken to date to strengthen accountability, counter harassment and build a safe, equal and empowering workplace.
The first Arab Forum for Equality, held in Amman on 30-31 May 2022, is organized by the ESCWA and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, and hosted by the Center on International Cooperation at the New York University. This is the inaugural meeting of the Forum, and the...
HIV medicine manufacturer Viiv has announced that it is “actively negotiating” a voluntary license with the Medicines Patent Pool on long-acting Cabotegravir.
UNAIDS welcomes the Chilean Government’s public acknowledgement of international responsibility in the emblematic case of violations of the rights of women living with HIV who were sterilized without their consent. The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric Font, has issued a public apology as part of a settlement resulting from a...
At the seventy-fifth World Health Assembly, taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, UNAIDS has urged leaders to tackle the global inequalities that drive pandemics such as HIV and COVID-19. UNAIDS highlighted that respect for everyone’s human rights is essential for achieving health for all.
UNAIDS has expressed concern that some public reporting and commentary on Monkeypox has used language and imagery, particularly portrayals of LGBTI and African people, that reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma. Lessons from the AIDS response show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can...
Ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima, has issued an urgent warning that economic recovery and health security plans that do not tackle inequality face catastrophic failure.
UNAIDS warmly congratulates John Nkengasong on confirmation by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally. As the new U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Dr Nkengasong will lead the United States’ President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
For me, as for so many across the African continent, your struggle here for equality in South Africa—a struggle that we all can see is unfinished—is an inspiration. In the awful era of Apartheid even your province’s name, Free State, was itself a bitter irony. Today, whilst the long walk...
The war in Ukraine has resulted in the destruction and disruption of health services and logistical supply chains that hundreds of thousands of people living with and affected by HIV depend on for survival. One in every 100 Ukrainians are living with HIV, and lack of access to antiretroviral therapy...
UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by the International Labour Organization (ILO) that Gilbert F. Houngbo, who is from Togo, has been elected as the organization’s 11th Director-General. Mr Houngbo will begin his five-year term in October 2022, taking over from the current Director-General, Guy Ryder.
The German Federal Government has agreed to host a new UNAIDS office in Bonn. The agreement is part of Germany’s commitment to reinforce its partnership with the United Nations and part of UNAIDS’ commitment to realign its work to the new Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026: End Inequalities, End AIDS.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis with rapidly growing numbers of deaths and casualties, the destruction of entire cities and towns and unconscionable attacks on health facilities and other civilian targets. This is putting Ukrainians living with HIV in grave danger.
In the lead-up to the International Transgender Day of Visibility, on 31 March, UNAIDS has launched an initiative to raise awareness among parents, teachers and the wider community about gender identity during childhood.
On World Tuberculosis Day 2022, UNAIDS is calling for urgency in diagnosing and treating TB as TB deaths among people living with HIV rise for the first time after years of progressive decline
It has been more than half a century since the United Nations proclaimed the 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
UNAIDS congratulates Zimbabwe’s parliament for repealing section 79 of the Criminal Law Code, which criminalizes HIV transmission. A new marriage bill adopted by parliament that repeals the criminal code section is to be signed into law by the president. The criminalization of HIV transmission is ineffective, discriminatory and undermines efforts...
Health must be a priority of the humanitarian response to this war. If not, we are at severe risk of losing the fight in Eastern Europe against the world´s other pandemic, HIV, against the world´s second biggest infectious disease killer, tuberculosis, and of losing control over Covid-19.
This year’s theme calls for “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. As the women’s movements have brought to the fore, and as all the evidence demonstrates, every development goal depends on ensuring the rights of all women and girls.
UNAIDS is deeply saddened at the death of Paul Farmer, anthropologist, doctor and global health champion. He was Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in...
Ireland has today announced that it is increasing its core funding for UNAIDS from €2.4 million in 2021 to €2.5 million in 2022. The announcement was made at a meeting in Dublin between Ireland’s Minister for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Winnie...
Amidst the ongoing military offensive against Ukraine, UNAIDS is calling for the protection of health workers and uninterrupted continuation of HIV and health services for all people, including people living with and affected by HIV. Ukraine has the second largest AIDS epidemic in the region. It is estimated that there...
This year will be 41 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported, 26 years since the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS started its work and 21 years since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) partnership came into existence. Since then, communities, countries...
The French virologist and co-discoverer of HIV, Luc Montagnier, sadly died this week.
Newly published research from the Netherlands has revealed the existence of a more transmissible and damaging variant of HIV. People living with the newly revealed HIV subtype experience double the rate of immune system decline (CD4 count), have higher HIV viral loads (amount of virus in the blood) and are...
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has announced that the Director of Innovation at UNAIDS, Pradeep Kakkattil, has been awarded a 2022 Social Innovators of the Year award. Mr Kakkattil received the prestigious award for his work in creating the Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx), a platform that links innovators, governments...
