Sweden

GENEVA, 18 December 2020— UNAIDS strongly welcomes the announcement by Sweden at the 47^th meeting of UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board to renew its annual funding commitment to UNAIDS of SEK300 million in core funding for 2021, equivalent to 36 million USD, demonstrating the country’s continued leadership in the global AIDS response. In making the announcement, Sweden underscored UNAIDS role in working for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

UNAIDS also welcomes Germany’s announcement, at the same meeting, of its decision to invest an additional €5 million in UNAIDS complementary responses to the HIV and COVID-19 epidemics next year. This builds on the country’s contribution of €20 million to UNAIDS’ HIV and COVID-19 response in June this year and is on top of Germany`s annual contribution to UNAIDS of €5 million. In making the announcement, Germany recognized UNAIDS’ outstanding work in responding to the colliding epidemics of HIV and COVID-19 and called on other donors to consider increasing their contributions.

“I want to thank Sweden and Germany for their strong leadership in the AIDS response as well as their confidence in and support for UNAIDS,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima. “These contributions will allow UNAIDS to maintain our response to the HIV epidemic, while mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups of people and mobilizing the AIDS response, its infrastructure and expertise against COVID-19.”

High-level representatives of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden came together on 28 March to discuss how to accelerate efforts in implementing the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. During the Nordic consultation, hosted and chaired by State Secretary Ulrika Modéer, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden, the participants discussed obstacles and opportunities for progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, shared his vision and perspective on the opportunities towards ending AIDS and spoke about the recent reform of UNAIDS. The link between sexual and reproductive health and HIV was discussed, as was the need for greater efficiencies, reform in the global health architecture in order that health becomes more effective and a reduction of fragmentation. 

The global response to HIV has averted almost 9 million deaths since 2000, when the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were set. Despite such progress, AIDS is the leading cause of death among women aged 15–49, the sixth leading cause of death among adolescents and a leading cause of death among children worldwide.

Recognizing the impact of HIV on health and development, in 2016 United Nations Member States adopted a Political Declaration on Ending AIDS to advance progress towards ending AIDS by 2030.

Essential to these efforts will be achieving the 90–90–90 targets, whereby, by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

In October 2016, Sweden announced that it was the first country to reach the 90–90–90 targets, having reached them in 2015. Today, Sweden estimates that 90% of people living with HIV in Sweden know their HIV status, 97% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 95% of people living with HIV who are accessing treatment have viral suppression.

Sweden remains a political champion and supporter of HIV efforts globally. Sweden is also a key donor to UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. From 26 to 28 March, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé visited Sweden, at the invitation of State Secretary Ulrika Modéer, to discuss how the response to HIV can be a catalyst for accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

In meetings with a series of key political and technical stakeholders, as well as civil society organizations working on HIV, the participants stressed that HIV prevention must be expanded to end AIDS. They also stressed that HIV programmes must be integrated, brought to scale and implemented to maximum effect, ensuring they reach the people most affected by HIV.

There was consensus that a single disease approach to HIV is inadequate to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and that there is a need for an approach that looks on health not as an outcome but as a prerequisite for development and sustainability.

As 2016 draws to a close, UNAIDS welcomes new funding commitments from our partners in the Nordic region for 2017. The renewed political and financial support from the Nordic countries demonstrates their confidence in our performance and UNAIDS 2016-2021 Strategy – on the Fast-Track to end AIDS.

"These investments demonstrate the importance of our shared vision to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “We welcome these new commitments, which come at a critical point in controlling the AIDS epidemic and will enable UNAIDS to focus on improving performance, delivering results and ensuring that no one is left behind by the global AIDS response."

The Swedish government will increase its annual core contribution to UNAIDS to SEK 230 million for 2017, to provide support to low- and middle-income countries to meet the goals of the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS.

“UNAIDS leadership is critical for our collective ambition of ending AIDS and to ensure zero discrimination of people living with HIV. Sweden’s political and financial support to UNAIDS was clearly demonstrated with the additional core support of SEK 50 million during 2016 to address the financial shortfall,” said Ulrika Modéer, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden. “We look forward to discussions on a sustainable and strengthened business model for UNAIDS in June 2017.”

Norway will increase its core contribution by NOK 10 million for 2017, resulting in a total of NOK 130 million for 2017.

“Norway has always been a strong and active supporter of the United Nations. The unique UNAIDS model has shown that the United Nations can deliver as one, under one budget and results framework,” said Laila Bokhari, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway. “As a donor and a UNAIDS board member, Norway will continue to support the important mission of UNAIDS."

Denmark has strengthened its commitment to the AIDS response by announcing increased support to UNAIDS to DKK 30 million for 2017.

"UNAIDS is a longstanding and key strategic partner for Denmark in our efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. UNAIDS is a front-runner in promoting human rights and addressing stigma and discrimination in the area of HIV/AIDS, particularly relating to women and young girls,” said Ulla Tørnæs, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark. “I am very pleased that Denmark was able to provide an additional DKK 11 million to UNAIDS in 2016."

Denmark, Norway and Sweden also provided additional financial support to UNAIDS in 2016 as an emergency measure to address the budget deficit.

UNAIDS remains hopeful that more partners will follow the Nordic countries’ leadership in increasing their political and financial support for UNAIDS to reduce the currently projected funding gap for 2017 and ensure that the world is on the Fast-Track to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

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. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Swedish Minister of International Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva. 09 May 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS

An official delegation from Sweden led by the Minister of International Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson met with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva. Young people features high on the agenda.

“We need to engage a new generation of young people in shaping the future agenda of our international institutions, so that they address the shared challenges of their world,” said Minister Carlsson. “We want future generations to believe in the virtues of international cooperation and to influence and change the international institutions to fit the times,” she added.

Michel Sidibé emphasized his personal commitment to bringing more young people into the ranks of the organization and stressed the importance of the innovative youth-led policy project initiated by UNAIDS called CrowdOutAIDS. The initiative saw the participation of more than 5 000 young activists from 79 countries to develop the first-ever “crowdsourced” AIDS-related document in UN history which will inform the UNAIDS Secretariat’s New Generation Leadership Strategy.

“Nurturing young leadership is essential for the AIDS response to remain relevant to the needs of communities, families, and new generations of young people in a more sophisticated and interconnected world,” said Mr Sidibé. “UNAIDS is committed to engage young people in collectively shaping a vision for global health, social development, and the values of our shared world—a new global citizenship,” he added.

The UNAIDS Executive Director also commended Sweden’s commitment and support to the global efforts to eliminate new HIV infections among children and keep mothers alive and emphasized the opportunity to create an AIDS-free generation by 2015.

The government of Sweden and UNAIDS agreed to join forces to promote innovation and new approaches to development partnerships as well as to look for opportunities to strengthen collaboration across UN agencies.

Accompanying the Minister were Member of Parliament Christian Holm, Ambassador Jan Knutsson, Sweden’s Global Health Ambassador, Anders Nordstrom, and other colleagues from Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Mission in Geneva.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé (centre) speaking at the consultation on the criminalisation of non-disclosure, exposure or transmission of HIV. Oslo, Norway, 14 February 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS

The Nordic countries have reiterated their commitment to HIV and to doing their part to help countries reach the ambitious targets set out by United Nations Member States in the 2011 Political Declaration on AIDS.

Their strong support was heard by the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé during a working meeting with range of health and development partners from the Nordic countries to discuss greater collaboration in moving the AIDS agenda forward.

The meeting was part of a two-day visit to Sweden and Norway by the Executive Director of UNAIDS which began in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. During the discussions, health and development representatives from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden talked about the importance of human rights, HIV services for young people, and shared responsibility responding to HIV.

“The Nordic countries have been global leaders in areas of human rights and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights and they continue to be strong partners in the shared responsibility agenda,” said Mr Sidibé. “Their support, particularly as low- and middle- income countries look at ways of reversing the AIDS dependency crisis, remains vital to the success of the global AIDS response.”

Mr Sidibé discussed in detail Sweden’s policy priorities––which include addressing the needs of people most at risk of infection and ensuring human rights and gender equality––during a meeting with Sweden’s Minister for Development Cooperation Ms Gunilla Carlsson.

The Minister underscored the importance of seeking new paradigms for development cooperation that build on accountability and shared responsibility. She also welcomed UNAIDS’ efforts to address the AIDS dependency crisis and highlighted the UNAIDS investment framework as an important tool in a new phase of development cooperation.

Civil society groups and parliamentarians in Sweden met with the Executive Director of UNAIDS and spoke about the importance of UNAIDS’ work in protecting the rights of people most at risk of HIV and ensuring equity in access to HIV services.

A major focus of the Norway leg of the visit was a consultation on the criminalisation of non-disclosure, exposure or transmission of HIV. The meeting brought together policy makers, government officials, members of the judicial system, civil society and people living with HIV from around the world to ensure that legal systems globally are informed by accurate scientific information and a respect for human rights. The aim of the consultation was to promote better understanding of the issues and share best practices relating to the use of criminal law and protection of human rights.

This theme was carried through in a meeting between UNAIDS Executive Director and the Minister for the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim.

A couple of weeks ago UNAIDS was approached by two students from a school in remote Sweden for information about political leadership and the AIDS response in Botswana. They were about to engage in a model UN General Assembly session together with the students at their schools. The focus was the HIV epidemic. UNAIDS invited the students, Amanda Garå and Fredrik Hellberg, to share some thoughts on their experience to find out more about how young people around the world are engaging in the response to AIDS.  

By Amanda Garå and Fredrik Helleberg, students at the Hulebäck secondary school

During the negotiations in the model General Assembly, the countries have the opportunity to speak for their interests. Credit: UNAIDS/Ahlberg"

On Tuesday 23^rd of November, the students of the IT-Media program at Hulebäck secondary school in Mölnlycke, Sweden, performed a model UN General Assembly session disucssing the AIDS epidemic. The whole day was a role play, where students acted as delegates from different United Nations member states. Before the big day we prepared ourselves, learning about the HIV epidemic, our respective adopted countries and international cooperation. As an example, we were visited by a person living with HIV, who spoke about his experience.

“We are trying to find ways to educate our young people not only about international relations but also about burning issues like the HIV pandemic,” says Maria Sjölund, teacher at the school.

During the day we held a meeting of the ”General Assembly”, which took place in the lobby of the school. We also had a press conference and a banquet in the evening. The students were divided into groups of two and acted as delegates from the country they had been assigned to represent. We acted as the honourable delegates of Botswana.

In total, there were 28 countries represented by 57 participants. The meeting was led by a chairman and some younger students from our school acted as journalists and photographers of the world press. The meeting was also open to spectators.

During the day several resolutions were approved, for example regarding education about HIV in primary schools. Another resolution that was written by Botswana, India and Nigeria, dealt with the production of a vaccine against HIV which received a unanimous yes-vote. One resolution which was not approved was about proposing circumcision for men as an HIV prevention method. Many countries found this proposal very devastating for their culture and also that this was a matter for every family to decide. The delegates of the model session could, like in the real UN, get up on the podium and speak for or against any proposal.

“It felt like it was a real meeting and it was very educational. I got a clearer picture about the HIV epidemic. It was a bit nervous when the opening ceremony started and every country was going to give a speech in English. After that, it was a lot of fun,” says Victor Fridh, a student at Hulebäcksgymnasiet who participated in the session.

During these three weeks, we have not just learned about the UN, but also about the HIV epidemic and the response. We felt that it was a much better way to learn about the UN and the General Assembly than just reading about how it works in school books. We really recommend other schools all over the world to host model UN General Assembly sessions because we think it could make a difference. Partly because you will learn about the subject, in this case HIV. Also partly because you will learn about how big decisions are made and that countries do not always agree, even if the proposal can look great to someone from the outside.

Before the role play, many students had preconceived ideas about AIDS and people living with HIV. Many students changed their minds. They felt it was interesting to realize that it is not only the poorest countries which are the worst affected. Before the lecturer visited us many were a little afraid of just being in the presence of an HIV-positive person, because we didn’t know much about it. Now that we understand more about the topic and how stigma and discrimination work we feel that these types of interactions where people can talk and learn can help break the silence around HIV.

Executive Director of UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibé participated in a panel on global health challenges, 22 October 2009, Stockholm.
Credit: UNAIDS

The European Development Days opened yesterday in Stockholm by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess of Sweden Victoria, the President of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso and the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

The three day event brings together more than 1500 organizations and 400 individuals from the development community to discuss how to make development aid more effective, and it aspires to build a global coalition to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015.

The European Development Days are hosted jointly every year by the European Commission and the EU presidency, with this year’s event being the fourth edition.

The Executive Director of UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibé participated in a panel on global health challenges, which explored ways of making the world a healthier place, despite the ailing state of the global economy.

Mr Sidibé emphasized that the world is lagging behind when it comes to HIV prevention, outlining key barriers to halting the spread of HIV including investing resources with populations who are criminalized and marginalized.

“We have effective prevention interventions – however we are not convincing enough decision-makers to invest sufficiently in them”, Sidibé continued, stressing that success will require building an HIV prevention movement with the grassroots to over come political inertia.

He also expressed the need for programmes to “address sexuality and gender inequality in frank, open ways, keeping up with a changing epidemic.”

Executive Director of UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibé meet with the former President of Mali, Mr Alpha Oumar Konaré during the European Development Days, 22 October 2009, Stockholm.
Credit: UNAIDS

The session also focused how to meet the health related MDGs, and Mr Sidibé spoke of the need to take the AIDS response out of isolation saying that policy-makers should leverage the energy and creativity of the AIDS movement to deliver on the AIDS+MDG agenda.

Lluis Riera, Director for Development Policy at the European Commission's Directorate General for Development, Michel Kazatchkine Executive Director of the global fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and Anders Nordström, Director General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) also addressed the session.

The Global Health Challenges session was a joint initiative of UNAIDS, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance, the Stop AIDS Alliance, and AIDS Accountability International.

Executive Director of UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibé with Mr. George Soros during the European Development Days, 22 October 2009, Stockholm.
Credit: UNAIDS

While in Sweden, Mr Sidibé also took the opportunity to meet with Swedish non-governmental organizations (NGO) engaged in the AIDS response. Among them Noah's Ark, an NGO that has been involved in the fight against HIV since 1986, as well as representatives of the Swedish Network of People Living with HIV.

The European Development Days is hosted by the current EU President, Sweden and will conclude on 24 October.

Every day nearly 14 000 people around the world become infected with HIV. This means nearly 5 million new infections a year. An effective response to AIDS requires access to both HIV treatment and prevention. Unfortunately, HIV prevention efforts have for some time been overshadowed by the increased attention on treatment.  The complexities of having to discuss sensitive issues such as sex and drugs also contribute to denial and complacency. 

Recognizing the importance of HIV prevention as a central part of all AIDS work, the Government of Sweden and UNAIDS invited a group of policy makers, civil society representatives and the media to Stockholm this week to work together towards building a vocal constituency around HIV prevention.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot and Lennarth Hjelmaker, the Swedish HIV/AIDS Ambassador.

Hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), in collaboration with UNAIDS and the Swedish Association for Sexual Education (RFSU), the international meeting centered around setting priorities for more effective HIV prevention. This includes giving impetus to HIV prevention; advocating for the effective use of resources available for AIDS and getting all partners to work together.

Giving the global overview of the state of HIV prevention today, UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot said, “important progress has been made, but unfortunately it is not enough. Scaling up HIV prevention is critical for the success of the overall response to AIDS.”

Sweden has recognized the importance of emphasizing the importance of HIV prevention. Sweden’s contributions to the AIDS response have increased dramatically in the past few years, and its contribution to UNAIDS in 2006 increased by 33%, from around $ 20.5 million to $ 27.5 million.

Recognizing the importance of HIV prevention is only the first step,” said Carin Jämtin, Minister for International Development Cooperation in Sweden, speaking at the meeting. “Translating the recognition into reality on the ground is something else.  To move forward on prevention we need open eyes and open minds.”

Sweden is actively preparing for the 2006 High Level Meeting on AIDS, to be held in New York later this month. Sweden will become the Chair of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) at UNAIDS’ next board meeting at the end of June 2006.