Resources and funding

UNAIDS is deeply saddened by the death of the prominent AIDS researcher and activist Mathilde Krim. Ms Krim was a pioneer in AIDS research from the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic and a dedicated defender of human rights and justice.

Ms Krim was a research scientist, dedicated to increasing awareness around HIV. She was one of the Founding Chairmen of the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), an organization dedicated to AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.

Her activism, dedication and compassion were instrumental in influencing public policy mobilizing funds for AIDS research and protecting the human rights of people living with HIV or affected by HIV.

In 2000, Ms Krim was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the United States of America. 

UNAIDS and the Government of Australia have signed a new five-year strategic partnership agreement to advance efforts to respond to HIV in the Asia–Pacific region. The agreement will focus on promoting evidence-informed, sustainable and integrated approaches to responding to HIV that promote innovation and address human rights, discrimination and gender issues.

The agreement highlights a shared vision to end AIDS and builds on the strengths and experiences of both Australia and UNAIDS to form a collaborative partnership. This partnership will enable a robust and sustainable response to HIV which is integrated into the wider context of health and sustainable development in the Asia–Pacific region.

As part of the agreement, Australia will commit AUD 22.5 million (US$ 17.1 million) to UNAIDS over five years from 2018 to 2022 to support UNAIDS in achieving the targets, goals and vision outlined in the UNAIDS Strategy: On the Fast-Track to end AIDS.  

There is a consensus among political leaders, civil society and development partners that ending AIDS as a public health threat in Nigeria will require increased domestic funding.

In the past 10 years, Nigeria has made progress in its AIDS response. The number of people living with HIV on life-saving antiretroviral therapy in the country grew to more than one million by mid-2017. AIDS-related deaths have been reduced from 210 000 in 2006 to fewer than 160 000 in 2016. Although only 30% of people living with HIV in Nigeria are now on treatment, 81% of people on treatment are virally suppressed.

According to the Society for Family Health, Nigeria, spending on the AIDS response in Nigeria increased from US$ 300 million in 2007 to US$ 730 million in 2013. But the AIDS response has been largely sustained through external funding, especially from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In order to increase domestic funding for the AIDS response, efforts are under way for each of Nigeria’s 36 states to contribute up to 1% of their monthly allocations from the federal government to the response to HIV. The Government of Nigeria, with technical support from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, is also establishing an HIV trust fund aimed at increasing private sector contributions from 2.1% in 2014 to 10% by the end of 2018.

Increases in domestic funding will boost efforts to diagnose the estimated two million people living with HIV in Nigeria who do not know their HIV status and are not yet on treatment. In December 2016, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, launched a Fast-Track plan using domestic resources to maintain 60 000 people living with HIV on HIV treatment and to ensure that an additional 50 000 people access treatment each year. 

New results from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced on World AIDS Day 2017 show strong advances in scaling up HIV prevention and treatment.

UNAIDS recently reported that nearly 21 million people living with HIV are accessing antiretroviral therapy—more than half of the 36.7 million people living with HIV are now on life-saving treatment. PEPFAR’s latest data show that PEPFAR supported more than 13.3 million of those men, women and children.

PEPFAR’s new data also indicate that there have been significant declines in new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women. In the 63 districts of 10 African countries implementing PEPFAR’s pioneering DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) public–private partnership, the majority (65%) of the highest HIV burden communities or districts achieved a greater than 25% decline in new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women. ‎Importantly, new HIV infections declined in nearly all DREAMS programme districts.

By the end of September 2017, PEPFAR had provided voluntary medical male circumcision to more than 15.2 million men and boys. This result was reached through the largest single-year increase (3.4 million) in new voluntary medical male circumcisions since the beginning of PEPFAR.

PEPFAR has supported more than 6.4 million orphans and other vulnerable children and their caregivers affected by HIV and has prevented HIV infection among 2.2 million babies born to women living with HIV.

The new data add to PEPFAR’s impact results released in the past year, which show that five African countries are approaching control of their HIV epidemics. They also highlight critical advances being made under the PEPFAR Strategy for Accelerating HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control (2017–2020), which was launched by United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the 2017 United Nations General Assembly.

GENEVA, 14 November 2017—UNAIDS welcomes the appointment of Peter Sands as the new Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).

“The Global Fund is a critical partner for UNAIDS,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Mr Sands has the experience, leadership and vision needed to do the job and I very much look forward to working with him to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.”

UNAIDS has worked closely with the Global Fund since its inception in 2002. UNAIDS leverages its relationships and partnerships to assist countries in securing Global Fund resources, implementing grant programmes and overcoming bottlenecks. The Global Fund, in collaboration with other donors and governments, secures the resources to implement effective responses to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Together, UNAIDS and the Global Fund have ensured that millions of people living with HIV have access to treatment and that people most affected by the epidemic have the health and support services they need.

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.

Donor government funding to support HIV efforts in low- and middle-income countries decreased by US$511 million from US$7.5 billion in 2015 to US$7 billion in 2016, finds a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). This marks the second successive year of declines, and is the lowest level since 2010.

The decrease stems from actual cuts in funding (accounting for an approximate net 50% of the decline), exchange rate fluctuations (20%), and the timing of U.S. contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (30%), due to U.S. law that limits its funding to one-third of total contributions to the Global Fund.

In 2016, bilateral funding decreased by slightly more than US$100 million, falling for nine of 14 donors profiled (seven of which declined in currency of origin). Multilateral contributions fell by US$400 million. As noted above, some of this was due to U.S. legislative limitations on Global Fund contributions. However, some was due to donor decisions to front-load their funding early in the 2014-2016 Global Fund pledge period.

“AIDS investments provide exceptional value for money. We have wisely invested in providing life-saving HIV treatment and prevention services for millions of people and are seeing the results of those investments today,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Declining international resources will hamper our ability to reach the 17 million people who still need treatment.”

“Donor government funding for HIV continues to be on the decline,” said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Jen Kates, Director of Global Health and HIV Policy. “Recent proposed cuts from the U.S., amidst other competing demands on donor budgets, will likely contribute to an ongoing climate of uncertainty around funding for HIV going forward.”

The U.S. continued to be the largest donor to HIV efforts, providing US$4.9 billion in 2016, followed by the U.K., France, the Netherlands, and Germany. When standardized by size of its economy, however, the U.S. ranked third.

The new report, produced as a partnership between the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS, provides the latest data available on donor government funding based on data provided by governments. It includes their bilateral assistance to low- and middle-income countries and contributions to the Global Fund as well as UNITAID.  “Donor government funding” refers to disbursements, or payments, made by donors. Donor contributions to multilateral organizations are counted as part of their disbursements.

The Kaiser Family Foundation

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.

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.