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Adolescents are being left behind in the global AIDS response. HIV is the number one contributor to adolescent mortality in sub-Saharan African and number two globally. Adolescents often lack access to proven, life-saving services, such as HIV treatment. To address this situation, a meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 3 to 5 December to design a strategy to address the challenges that adolescents face.

The global strategy consultation brought together around 50 activists from youth networks, governments, implementers, donors and UNAIDS cosponsors, all committed to making real progress through improving programmes, driving innovation and amplifying advocacy.

The participants took stock of ongoing efforts and reviewed a results framework to create accountability towards, and track progress for, the often neglected population. They looked at establishing milestones to measure progress and at what can be done to accelerate change for adolescents using innovative approaches and improved data. Critically, there was consensus among all partners that much more needs to be done to tap the inherent potential of adolescents and young people for progressive social change.

An action plan was developed outlining catalytic efforts in which partners could join to deliver results. Partners will now work together to finalize the All In agenda, which will be launched in February 2015.

The consultation was convened by UNAIDS and the United Nations Children’s Fund. The United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization were co-convenors, in collaboration with youth networks and other core members of the All In Leadership Group: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

The United States of America unveiled on 3 December two new initiatives to scale up efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Reaching out to some of the most vulnerable populations being left behind in the AIDS response, the new initiatives will focus on adolescent girls and on speeding up the development and delivery of drugs to treat paediatric AIDS. 

These new United States commitments will bring attention to the urgent need for more effective programmes to reduce the disproportionately high levels of new HIV infections in young women and to urgently scale-up treatment services for children.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé welcomed the announcement and commended the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) on its significant achievement  in increasing the numbers of people on HIV treatment.

“We congratulate PEPFAR on these two new initiatives. If we are to meet our goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, we must all fast-track our work to reduce new infections to less than 500 000 a year, scale-up treatment to meet the 90-90-90 targets, and eliminate stigma and discrimination,” said Mr Sidibé. “We will continue to need the United States to help lead the way towards the achievement of these ambitious targets.”

PEPFAR also released a new report titled PEPFAR 3.0 – Controlling the Epidemic: Delivering on the Promise of an AIDS-free Generation. The report documents the programme’s progress and unveils PEPFAR’s strategy for working with partners to reach the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets and to achieve an AIDS-free generation.

The PEPFAR programme is currently providing life-saving HIV treatment to 7.7 million people and has provided HIV testing and counseling for more than 56 million people in 2014.

Valuing and increasing the participation of women and youth in the health sector is essential to achieving sustainable results, participants heard at the fifteenth Francophonie Summit, held in Dakar, Senegal, from 25 to 30 November.

In parallel with the Francophonie Summit, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the Senegalese Ministry of Health, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the GAVI Alliance and UNITAID organized a high-level meeting on 26 November that brought together national and international dignitaries. They emphasized the importance of strengthening health systems in La Francophonie and of involving women, youth and, more widely, communities in health issues.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé spoke of the need to place on the political agenda the response to major epidemics. Participants said that the Ebola virus disease outbreak, which to date has killed more than 5500 people in West Africa, demonstrates the fragmentation of leadership and weaknesses of health systems. These factors and a lack of financial resources have also affected the HIV response in the past.

The post-2015 development goals, which should promote a new architecture for global health, should allow the translation of lessons learned from these outbreaks into rapid action.

Putting human rights issues and health at the heart of concerns in the post-2015 development agenda will also make it possible to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, which will mean a redistribution of opportunities. During his visit to Senegal, Mr Sidibé and Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, visited the Ambulatory Treatment Centre in Dakar, which treats a range of infectious diseases and where more than 51 000 HIV tests were carried out in 2013.

The Prime Minister of Namibia, Hage Geingob, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to sustaining the national AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria responses during a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), Mark Dybul, on 3 November in Windhoek, Namibia.

Prime Minister Geingob said that the government will continue to build on the current gains in order to drastically decrease the impacts of the three epidemics and to put Namibia on the path to ending the AIDS epidemic.

Mr Sidibé noted that Namibia has been one of the success stories in the global AIDS response and a model country with an innovative partnership between government and civil society. He added that addressing the needs of key populations at higher risk and investing in a community-centred HIV response that leaves no one behind will be critical to ending the AIDS epidemic in Namibia.

During the meeting, Dr Dybul said that Namibia’s increased investment in health had been exemplary and a demonstration of country ownership. He assured the government that the Global Fund is committed to supporting the national systems and plans to accelerate their implementation to get results quickly.

In the past three years, Namibia has increased domestic funding for health to more than 14% of its annual budget—it is now close to reaching the 15% target agreed by African governments in the 2001 Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases. The 2013 national AIDS spending assessment estimates that 64% of the US$ 213 million HIV funding in Namibia comes from public funds, 35% from international donors and 1% from the private sector. 

During their joint two-day visit to Namibia, Mr Sidibé and Dr Dybul held discussions with high-level political leaders, including Namibian Minister of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi, representatives of civil society, partners and health workers.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death among people living with HIV. In 2013, 360 000 HIV-positive people around the globe died of TB, a disease which is both preventable and curable. Greater commitment and resources are needed to mount an effective response to TB and a high-level round-table event examined how this can be done through the new funding model of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).

The event, which took place in Barcelona, Spain, on 30 October, provided an opportunity to exchange country experiences and information on TB financing and investing for impact. Participants also discussed the challenges and opportunities emerging from the new funding model, which promotes more strategic, flexible and predictable investment. 

On the opening panel, Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul was joined by South Africa’s Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, Blessi Kumar of the Global Coalition of TB Activists, USAID TB Senior Policy and Strategy Advisor Amy Bloom and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.

The panellists highlighted the importance of social movements and community engagement for more sustainable and inclusive approaches. They recognized the need for additional resources and called for more focused use of existing resources. It was also stressed that approaches to TB and HIV must be people-centred rather than disease-centred.

On 11 May 2014, many countries around the world celebrated Mother’s Day. In Geneva, Switzerland, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Hotel InterContinental Genève marked the day with the opening of an inspiring exhibition of children’s art. The event was part of efforts to raise awareness and support to stop new HIV infections among children and ensure their mothers remain alive and well.

The exhibition, featuring unique drawings and paintings by young artists aged between 5 and 16 years living with or affected by HIV from Ukraine, provided an opportunity to highlight the urgent need to increase efforts to keep children free from HIV.

One of the children whose artwork was included in the exhibition was 16 year old Sofia Pinchuk. She is one of the adolescents under the care of a UNICEF-supported non-governmental organization called The Way Home, in Odesa. “The artwork is a reminder that the hopes and dreams of children and adolescents everywhere are the same,” said Sofia.

Sergej Kostin, Director of The Way Home said, "For this event, I asked some of the children and adolescents we care for in Odesa to create art reflecting what a home or family means to them.” In the captions to the pictures some of the children wrote that they dreamt of becoming footballers, teachers, writers, dancers or artists. But many simply dreamt of having a united family and a home.

Despite global progress and unprecedented investment in eliminating new HIV infections among children and reducing maternal deaths, much more needs to be done to ensure that the world reaches the 2015 goal of providing critical HIV services to 90% of pregnant women living with HIV. 

“Today more than 2 million adolescents in the world are living with HIV. But an AIDS-free generation is within reach.  We have the tools, we know what needs to be done,” said Marie Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. “As we celebrate all mothers in the world, let us commit to building a better world, one of sharing and solidarity. And let us start by giving a voice and a future to children.”

“HIV affects children and adolescents all over the world,” said Mahesh Mahalingam, UNAIDS Director of the Office of the Director of Programme. “We hope that this artwork will encourage you to take a closer look at the world of children and adolescents living with and affected by HIV—a poignant reminder of our shared responsibility to make sure they are not left behind.”

Jurgen Baumhoff, General Manager of the InterContinental Hotel Genève said, “We—the staff and guests of the InterContinental Hotel Genève—feel honored to be engaged in and to be able to support the HIV response. The courage and resilience of these young artists inspires us all to continue to support efforts to eliminate new HIV infections among children and keep mother’s alive.”

The event, part of the joint UNAIDS and the Hotel InterContinental Genève campaign ‘Where History is Made’, also provided an opportunity to launch two new videos—‘Celebrating Birthdays’ a UNAIDS video in support of millions of mothers and children living with or affected by HIV—and and also a reminder of the global campaign “Getting to Zero” for an AIDS-Free generation.

Proceeds from the event will go towards UNAIDS and UNICEF’s joint work in stopping new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive.

On the eve of International Women’s Day, UNAIDS, the Hotel InterContinental Genève and the Rudra-Béjart School of Dance came together to promote health equity and to ensure that women and girls living with HIV are not left behind.

The Rudra Béjart's School of Dance with the pianist Melodie Zhao presented an exclusive performance about gender equality and women’s empowerment created to commemorate the International Women’s Day (8 March). "For this event, I asked my staff to create choreographies that show the ‘men-women, harmony’ theme,” said Michel Gascard, Director of the Rudra Béjart's Dance School.

Throughout the evening the audience saw different pieces created by a variety of choreographers ranging from classical and improvised dances to songs in Russian—a reminder that the Women's Day date stems from the empowerment of the women in Russia in 1917.

“This event is an illustration of how the world of art, the private sector and the United Nations can join forces in support of women and girls living with HIV,” said Mariangela Simao, Chief of rights, gender and community mobilisation division at UNAIDS.  “If we want to achieve our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination we need many partners and friends from different sectors,” she added.

The celebration is one of the events planned for 2014 as part of the joint UNAIDS and the Hotel InterContinental Genève campaign ‘Where History is Made’—which aims to raise awareness and funds for the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keep mothers alive.

“Since launching our joint campaign in December, we at the InterContinental and many of our guests feel part of the global AIDS response”, said Jürgen Baumhoff, General Manager of the Hôtel InterContinental Geneva. “It has inspired us to be more actively involved with UNAIDS to achieve an AIDS-free generation.”

Gender inequality, including gender-based violence is a key risk factor for HIV among women. As a result, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic. Globally, young women aged 15–24 are most vulnerable to HIV, with infection rates twice as high as in young men. According to UNAIDS, every hour 50 young women are newly infected with HIV and up to 45% of adolescent girls around the world report that their first sexual experience was forced. 

The Rudra Béjart's School of Dance is a private international free school sponsored by Sandoz, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Loterie Romande, Fondation Leenaards, Béjart, Jaquet Droz.

UNAIDS and the hotel InterContinental Genève are entering into a new partnership. The collaboration comes as the landmark Geneva hotel will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at a ceremony on the 21 November at UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva. During the ceremony, UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé discussed the importance of the active involvement of the private sector in the response to HIV with the General Manager of the hotel InterContinental Genève, Jürgen Baumhoff.

The public-private partnership will focus on a number of issues including ensuring children are born free from HIV and that their mothers can continue with antiretroviral therapy. Another important aspect is ensuring children living with HIV have timely access to life-saving treatment.

One of the first initiatives of the joint partnership will be the launch of a campaign to raise awareness and funds for an AIDS-free generation. The campaign will be launched on 16 December 2013.