With the HIV Response in Crisis, UNAIDS Must Not Be Sunset in 2026
As the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, we express our deepest alarm at the Report of the UN Secretary-General for the UN80 Initiative, which plans to “sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026.”
HIV IS NOT OVER!: ICW raises the alarm over UNGA80 Proposal to Sunset UNAIDS as dangerous for Women and Communities Living with HIV
The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) strongly condemns the UNGA80 reform proposal that would sunset or dismantle UNAIDS by December 2026. Moving to erase the only UN programme with an integrated gender, human rights, data, and community governance mandate for HIV is dangerous. The gap in essential convening and leadership of the HIV response will cost lives and including the lives of women living with HIV and people from key populations worldwide.
Health Equity, Community Voices, and the Fight for UNAIDS
For people living with and affected by HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, health equity is not a vague and pompous phrase, pretentious even. It is about equal dignity, access, and justice.
Read blog article by Alexei Lakhov
UNAIDS Must Not Be Sunset: Protecting Lives in the Era of Advanced HIV Disease (AHD)
The Fight AIDS Coalition (FAC), a collective that works to secure stronger responses and sustained investment in the prevention, treatment, and care of Advanced HIV Disease (AHD), is deeply alarmed by the recommendation in the United Nations’ UN80 Reform Report to “sunset” UNAIDS by the end of 2026
Statement by Matthew Weait, Chair of the National AIDS Trust; Professor of Law & Society and Fellow, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford
The UN is proposing to sunset UNAIDS by 2026. This is profoundly misguided. The epidemic is not over: 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV last year, and 630,000 died of AIDS-related illnesses. Nearly a quarter of people living with HIV still lack access to treatment.
Sunsetting UNAIDS would be a Historic ERROR by Erika Castellanos, Executive Director, GATE
With respect and resolve, I write to address a short paragraph with outsized consequences. Paragraph 39 of the UN80 Initiative's Workstream 3 report states an intention to “sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026,” with subsequent “mainstreaming” of its functions in 2027. The brevity of this proposal belies its gravity. It gestures toward dismantling a pillar of the global HIV response in two sentences without articulated impact analysis, transition safeguards or a public record of who was consulted. Given what is at stake: lives, hard-won gains and the credibility of multilateral public health leadership, this is not reform; it is precipitous deconstruction.
The World Cannot Afford to Lose UNAIDS by Richard Lusimbo, Director General at Uganda Key Populations Consortium
As the United Nations turns 80 this year, the world should celebrate a legacy of progress, not dismantling one of its greatest innovations. Yet the UN80 Initiative progress report proposes to “sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026.” Far from reform, this would be regression. Tearing down a community-centred model that has saved millions of lives, reduced inequalities, and anchored human rights at the heart of the HIV response.
Statement by Micheal Ighodaro, Executive Director at GBGMC
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has proposed shutting down UNAIDS by the end of 2026. Let me be clear: this would be catastrophic.
Statement by EuroNPUD - European Network of People who Use Drugs
EuroNPUD is deeply alarmed by the proposal in the UN Secretary-General’s António Guterres recent report to sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026 and to absorb its mandate into the broader UN development system.
For people who use drugs, UNAIDS has been a vital ally and champion. It is the only UN entity with a clear mandate to lead the HIV response while ensuring that the voices of affected communities are represented in governance.
Statement by Nakato Martha Clara, Global Health Facilitator and Advocate
Dear Secretary-General António Guterres,
Ahead of the General Assembly, I believe the world needs a United Nations that turns dialogue into measurable action. We don’t need more prepared statements from member states, but leadership that moves us decisively into the future. The UN must therefore guide world leaders with courage, integrity, and a clear mandate: ensuring that humanity comes first before politics.
Open letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations by the Red Femistranslac (Regional Network of Migrant Transgender Women LAC)
Statement by José M. Zuniga, President, CEO of Fast-Track Health, Fast-Track Cities Institute and IAPAC
The United Nations proposal to “sunset” the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) by the end of 2026 and shift its many responsibilities into the broader UN system is dangerously premature.
Statement by Jirair Ratevosian, Global Health & HIV Policy Strategist, Senior Fellow at CSIS
There’s been a serious proposal in the UN80 Secretary-General’s report to “sunset” UNAIDS by end-2026, folding much of its mandate into broader UN structures. The NGO delegation to the UNAIDS PCB has pushed back sharply, warning that dismantling UNAIDS now would undermine leadership, coordination, and protection for key populations just when the HIV response is under growing stress from funding cuts, rising inequalities, and service disruptions.
Statement by Roy Wadia, Regional Communications Chief, World Health Organization Western Pacific Region
UNAIDS is truly essential. For all the reasons Micheal Ighodaro lists below - and more. Can it be restructured and the way forward strategized better? Of course. But that holds true for all United Nations entities including the World Health Organization where I am proud to work and serve. I sincerely hope this proposal to disband such an essential pillar will be reconsidered - and that UNAIDS will receive the support, including financial resources, it needs to survive and thrive.
The Cost of “Mainstreaming”: UNAIDS Cannot Be Replaced – An open letter to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres about the "sunsetting" of UNAIDS by the end of 2026 by Alexei Lakhov, Executive Director, EuroNPUD
Dear Mr. António Guterres,
When I read that the UN Secretary-General’s report proposes to “sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026,” I felt a familiar chill -- the kind I felt years ago when dreading the police brutality for being who I am. I know what happens when systems erase the humanity of people who use drugs. I know what happens when our voices are excluded from decisions that affect our lives. And I know what will happen if UNAIDS is dismantled: people will die.
Statement by Fionnuala Murphy, campaigns coordinator at the International HIV/AIDS Allliance, UK
On Friday United Nations Secretary General António Guterres published a report recommending the closure of UNAIDS in 2026 as part of the UN80 process. I’m not in the habit of posting videos of myself, but this one feels important, in the context of UN80 deliberations which have so far excluded civil society voices. It’s an intervention I gave at the UNAIDS board meeting in June, speaking on behalf of the NGO DELEGATION TO THE UNAIDS PCB. It sets out our collective response to suggestions that UNAIDS could be forced into premature closure.
Statement by Prasada Rao, Former UN Special Envoy on AIDS
I appeal to the wisdom of UN Secretary General, past and present and all the global leaders of public health to review this decision and allow this programme to fulfill its mandate of ending AIDS as a public health challenge. Billions of dollars spent in the last decades should not go waste and the world should not witness a resurgence of this deadly infection and disease.
UNAIDS Must Not Be Sunset in 2026 - What is at stake for the communities most impacted by HIV by Randy Davis, InclusHIV Consulting
The UN80 Initiative proposes sunsetting UNAIDS in 2026, folding its mandate into broader UN development structures. This is more than a structural change. It risks silencing the one body that has consistently centered people living with HIV, key populations, women and girls, and the most marginalized communities in the global response.
Open letter to his Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations by Fernando kakonda Kanhina, Angolan network of youth organizations on AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and gender equality
Dear colleagues, partners, and global health advocates,
Today, I share an open letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. António Guterres, expressing the deep concern of Angolan and African youth regarding the announcement of the progressive closure of UNAIDS by 2026.
Statement by Vincent Leclercq, Executive Director Coalition Plus
À quel prix fermer UNAIDS ? Une réforme majeure de l’ONU (UN80) propose de repenser, voire de fermer ou d’intégrer le Secrétariat d’UNAIDS/ONUSIDA, l’agence mondiale qui guide la réponse au VIH, à d'autres agences onusiennes.
Yana Panfilova, CEO and founder of Eurasian Union of Adolescents and Youth Teenergizer
Last week, #UN Secretary-General António Guterres proposed to “sunset” UNAIDS by the end of 2026.
As a Ukrainian woman born with HIV who had the honor of addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 2021 on behalf of tens of millions of people living with HIV— I must say clearly: this proposal is profoundly unwise, and dangerously short-sighted.
TAC and SECTION27 call on UN Secretary General to save UNAIDS
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and SECTION27 strongly oppose imminent plans to shut down UNAIDS, as announced by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Actively dismantling the only dedicated UN body coordinating the HIV response will have a devastating impact on the lives of millions of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and will undermine years of hard-fought gains in the HIV response.