GENEVA, 18 November 2022—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.

Germany announced an additional € 0.5 million, and the Netherlands pledged an additional € 3 million and announced an increase in funding of 15% and a multi-year agreement with UNAIDS to secure funding for 2023-2025.

“Having a fully funded UNAIDS matters because AIDS is still an epidemic for which there is no vaccine and no cure, but it is an epidemic we can treat. It is an epidemic which affects the most vulnerable, the most marginalized, the most oppressed, that’s where UNAIDS plays a pivotal role,” said Kitty van der Heijden, Vice Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. “UNAIDS needs to be enabled to deliver what it does well, and that is helping to prevent and treat HIV—we encourage more donors to come forward.”

In July UNAIDS released a report showing that the response was in danger, with the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine putting the AIDS response under even greater strain. In 2021, one person died every minute of an AIDS related illness and every two minutes a young woman became newly infected with HIV.

“AIDS remains a deadly pandemic and we cannot afford to pause now,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “UNAIDS has developed a strategy that will put us on a path to end AIDS, saving the lives of millions of people, ending inequalities that drive pandemics and building stronger health systems, but we need funding to make it happen. We welcome the additional pledges of support to UNAIDS which will bolster our efforts to get across the finish line.”

UNAIDS is working with its 11 Cosponsoring organizations, combining the range of technical expertise, cross-sectoral work and political reach that is needed to get the response back on track. A fully funded UNAIDS is critical. Investment now is essential to achieving the 2030 target of ending AIDS. A failure to invest will prolong the epidemic indefinitely with soaring costs in the future if we don’t act now.

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.