UNFPA The United Nations Population Fund

Despite substantial declines in new HIV infections globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately impact adolescent girls and young women in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022, there were 3,100 new weekly infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years.  In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women accounted for more than 77% of new infections among people aged 15-24 years in 2022.

That’s why Education Plus Initiative co-hosted with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg a high-level side event on the margins of the 68^th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) to bring attention to the cost of inaction, calling for more consistent investment in education, health and economic rights of adolescent girls and young women in Africa. The CSW, which runs from 11- 22 March 2024, is the United Nations largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, with this year’s priority theme, Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

Speakers included four ministers from Luxembourg, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, senior government officials from Cameroon and South Africa, and heads of UN agencies who co-lead Education Plus, ATHENA network. Hannah Dolly Kargbo, a young activist from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and founder of the Girls Advocacy Development Network (GADNET), pre-recorded a video that showed her work with young people to advance rights.

The event, Education Plus investment cases for transformative results: leveraging girls completion of secondary education for gender equality and HIV prevention mobilized government, partners and key stakeholders towards accelerated actions and translate commitments to action for gender equality and HIV prevention in Africa.

The costs of inaction on the rates of HIV in adolescent girls and young women remain significant, not only counted in terms of the harmful impacts on girls’ lives but in how they undermine prospects for poverty eradication and the well-being and resilience of families, communities, societies and national economies.  For instance, the lack of educational and economic opportunities that result in women’s diminished labour force participation is estimated to cost the African region US$60 billion in economic losses every year. And yet Africa could gain US$500 billion per year through multi-sectoral investments in adolescents and youth, especially girls, by capitalizing on demographic windows of opportunity.

Education Plus calls for investment in the education and empowerment of adolescent girls and young women, and 15 champion countries are already committed to using education as a means to reduce high HIV rates.  Investments that guarantee education for all young people, violence-free school environments, provision of stigma-free health services, comprehensive sexuality education, access to sexual reproductive health and rights services and economic autonomy and empowerment are key to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. When adolescent girls and young women complete secondary school, their risk of getting HIV is reduced significantly.

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 11 March 2024 - UNAIDS is gearing up for the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW68) which begins today and will run until 22 March 2024. #CSW68, the United Nations largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, is being held this year under the priority theme, Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

Despite progress, no country has achieved gender equality to date, and violations of women’s human rights and gender-based violence are continuing to fuel the AIDS pandemic. The world is off track to meet the gender targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in many of the world’s poorest countries, the debt crisis is squeezing out investment in education, health, and social protection, particularly hurting women and girls.

Around the world today, 129 million girls are out of school, denying them lifesaving information on how to protect themselves from HIV. Every three minutes, an adolescent girl or young woman (15-24 years) acquired HIV in 2022 in sub-Saharan Africa, and across Africa, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

"There can be no more excuses. Ending AIDS among women and girls is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic priority for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Only by protecting and investing in the rights of women and girls can we protect their health, and only by protecting women’s health can we end the AIDS pandemic. We must seize this opportunity to accelerate progress towards a world where every woman and girl can, not just survive, but thrive."

During #CSW68 UNAIDS will be co-hosting several key events including a high level meeting co-convened by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Education Plus (a joint initiative of UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women) which will mobilize government, partners and stakeholders to accelerate scaled up actions on women’s rights and leverage girls’ education for gender equality and HIV prevention across Africa.

UNAIDS is urging renewed action and anticipates strong outcomes from #CSW68. UNAIDS looks forward to the partnerships that will be forged to accelerate progress towards gender equality and ending AIDS as a global public health threat.

UNAIDS remains steadfast in its commitment to working collaboratively with governments, civil society, and other partners to create a world where the rights and dignity of all women and girls are respected and protected, including women and girls living with, at risk of and affected by HIV.

#CSW68, hosted by the United Nations, will convene leaders, advocates, governments, civil society organizations, activists and experts to discuss, agree on actions and investments that can end women’s poverty and advance gender equality.

Follow the Education Plus event live on Tuesday 12 March at 08:00 – 09:30 EST - Making Education Investment Cases Work for Gender Equality and HIV Prevention  

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.

With just two years left to attain the 2025 HIV prevention target of fewer than 370 000 new HIV infections annually, the world is not on track. In 2022, 1.3 million people became infected with HIV – the urgency to accelerate progress cannot be overemphasized. The Global HIV Prevention Coalition co-convened by UNAIDS and UNFPA ensures a strengthened and sustained political commitment for primary prevention across key policy makers and programme implementers. It includes countries such as Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda South Africa, and Zimbabwe – which have reduced new HIV infections by more than 70% since 2010.  

However, there were disparities across populations and regions. No significant declines were seen among key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs).

Globally, 4,000 new HIV infections occurred among adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years, every week – 3,000 of these occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. Approaches and investments for HIV prevention are currently insufficient to meet global targets.

The directors of National AIDS Coordinating Agencies, Ministry of Health HIV leads from the Global HIV Prevention Coalition focus countries and development partners were convened by the HIV Prevention Leadership Forum, with support from UNAIDS and UNFPA, to reinforce their commitment to stopping new HIV infections. This is part of efforts to ensure effective implementation of expanded HIV programmes with a focus on key and priority populations .

During the meeting, each country identified commitments  that they will drive and will be held accountable for in 2024 as well as technical level actions necessary for programme optimization.  Donors and global technical partners identified opportunities for technical and financial resources available at country level to supplement national resources to drive the action plans. 

The first lady of Namibia and UNAIDS Special Advocate for Adolescent Girls, and Young Women, Her Excellency Monica Geingos urged the country leaders in the HIV response to adapt solutions tailored to their national needs culturally, socio-economically, and politically. Whilst strengthening global collaboration, leaders should strengthen partnerships across sectors within the countries. Success in HIV prevention is possible, however, not only does it require leadership at government level, but also communities must lead.

The Global Prevention Coalition co-chair and former Minister of Health of Botswana, Prof. Sheila Tlou encouraged government leaders to follow the science, make data-driven decisions and ensure community leadership and participation in HIV prevention programming. This will secure gains made, bridge disparities and expedite progress needed for success in HIV prevention.

Dr Ruth Laibon Masha, Co-Chair of the HIV Multi-Sector Leadership Forum and Director, National Syndemic Disease Control Council, underscored the need to secure gains made by extraordinary leaders from multiple sectors who have played a crucial role in advancing the HIV movement and achieving significant progress. “By continuing to lead from the front we can work together towards the goal of delivering a future free of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. It’s time to recommit and finish the race against time “, she added.

Vice Minister, National Disease Control and Prevention Administration (NDCPA) affirmed China’s commitment towards strengthened multisectoral leadership and promotion of a nationally led HIV prevention and health agenda.

This will speed up progress to end the AIDS pandemic and save lives.

GENEVA, 4 October 2023—The United Nations in Mauritius—which includes UNAIDS, UNFPA, OHCHR, UNDP and WHO—welcome today’s ruling by the Supreme Court of Mauritius that a discriminatory law criminalizing consensual same sex relations is unconstitutional and will be immediately struck from the legal code. Previously, under Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code (which dated back to 1898) anyone convicted could have faced up to five years in prison.

“The Supreme Court today overturned an obsolete colonial law and demonstrated its commitment to non-discrimination and leaving no-one behind,” said Lisa Singh, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritius. “The UN in Mauritius and internationally welcomes the decision of Mauritius to join the growing list of African countries protecting the human rights of everyone, including LGBTQI+ people.”

The ruling noted that “Section 250 was not introduced in Mauritius to reflect any indigenous Mauritian values but was inherited as part of our colonial history from Britain. Its enactment was not the expression of domestic democratic will, but was a course imposed on Mauritius and other colonies by British rule.” It also noted that a growing number of countries have decriminalized consensual same sex sexual relations, including the United Kingdom which overturned its law in 1967. 

“Mauritius' decision to decriminalize homosexuality is an important step forward for public health and a step towards equal rights, respect and dignity for the LGBTQI community,” said Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Director of UNAIDS’ Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa. “UNAIDS applauds Mauritius for today’s decision which will mean that men who have sex with men will have much easier access to the health and social services they need without fear of arrest or criminalization. Work will need to continue to break down the barriers of stigma and discrimination towards the LGBTQI community, but today’s ruling is a positive step in the right direction. It will save lives.”

Mauritius becomes the latest in a growing list of countries to declare that laws which have criminalized LGBTQI people are unconstitutional. However, UNAIDS estimates that 66 countries still have laws which criminalize consensual same sex relations. In addition to contravening the human rights of LGBTQI people, these laws impede access to health and social services, including HIV services. Such laws fuel stigma and discrimination against LGBTQI people and put them under constant fear of being punished or detained.

The case was brought forward by Abdool Ridwan Firaas Ah Seek, President of Arc-en-Ciel, the largest and longest-standing organisation in Mauritius championing the human rights of LGBTQI people, and was supported by partners including the Human Dignity Trust.

Civil society organizations, especially community-led organizations, are at the forefront of a global wave of progress that advances access to health for all. UNAIDS urges all countries to decriminalise same sex sexual relations. Decriminalization saves and changes lives.

Maneesh Gobin, Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in Mauritius said, “In keeping with its internationally acclaimed respect for the rule of law, Mauritius will indeed report to United Nations Member States at the next cycle of the Universal Periodic Review.” The Universal Periodic Review is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.

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.

At Refuge des Femmes d'Haiti, a small women's community-based organization in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, Port-au-Prince, Martha Norcimè, a 34-year-old pregnant woman from the nearby commune of Delmas, completes her training in sewing and macramé—a form of textile produced using knotting techniques.

She is part of a group of vulnerable women deeply affected by the gang violence and warfare that has impacted several areas of the capital since early 2022. Most of her peers came from Croix-de-Bouquets. All of them—including women with HIV—living in challenging circumstances, who have seen their livelihood completely disappear throughout these past two years as violence rose.

"I will soon give birth to my first child. I used to sell food and cleaning products that I was buying on the Haitian-Dominican border between Jimani and Malpasse, and I was then selling in markets in the city and in my neighborhood,” recalls Martha. “But I could no longer continue, given the blockade of the North city entry controlled by armed gangs. So many women traders are raped, kidnapped, or robbed by them."

In the fall of 2022, a joint UN project coordinated by the UNAIDS Country Office in Haiti, with participation from UNFPA, UNDP, and UNICEF, has been launched in partnership with Refuge des Femmes d’Haiti and with the support of FOSREF, a Haitian non-governmental organization. The goal is to support women and girls living this daily reality by empowering and giving them the tools to remain healthy and overcome the feminization of HIV in Haiti.

Haiti’s significant gains made over the past decade in controlling its HIV epidemic are now under threat, particularly in the capital, where a third of the 11.8 million Haitians reside. The brunt of an ongoing socio-economic and security crisis triggered by the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 is borne by adolescent girls, young and adult women.

The feminization of HIV has long been a feature of the Haiti pandemic with HIV prevalence for females at 2.3%, compared to 1.6% among men. Still, the continuing multi-faced and profound crisis, fueled by such levels of violence, is exposing thousands of women to HIV infection.

In October 2022, a joint human rights report published by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), entitled Sexual violence in Port-au-Prince: a weapon used by gangs to instill fear denounced collective rape by gangs in the capital as a weapon of war. In May 2023, research conducted by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in Cité-Soleil, another impoverished commune in Port-au-Prince deeply hit by gang activity, found that 80% of the women and girls who participated in the study had been victims of one or more forms of gender-based violence by one or multiple perpetrators.

"We work closely with UN Agencies to support women, victims of violence, make them financially independent and thus reduce the feminization of HIV, sexual and gender-based violence and maternal and neonatal mortality," says Novia Augustin, President of Ref-Haiti, and of the Federation of Women Organizations for the Equality and Human Rights (FEDOFEDH). "Difficulties are several, but the biggest is insecurity and the lack of financial resources. My motivation comes from our results: When I look at the satisfaction on the faces of the women we have accompanied, the recognition they show, I tell myself that it is worth it, despite all the difficulties encountered and the risks incurred."

Martha recalls how Novia opened the door to her for intensive training every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. At the time, she was already pregnant. And despite the pregnancy-related fatigue, she did not miss a single day of class. “I can sew skirts, bonnets, blouses and even sandals!" she says proudly. "But I can't do anything now because of this crisis. Sometimes I even miss my pre-natal appointments with the doctor just because I am afraid to go out."

Besides training, Ref-Haiti also included discussions  on HIV risk and prevention, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, family planning, and cholera. The awareness-raising activities targeted women beneficiaries and hundreds of young girls of other affected communes.

"We are working to support an integrated health response for women and girls so severely affected by gang violence and by socio-economic inequality”, says Christian Mouala, UNAIDS Country Director for Haiti. “We are proud of women-led local organizations such as Refuge des Femmes and their immeasurable efforts to support women to overcome the challenges they face."

All photos by UNDP Haiti

The University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) Faculty of Medical Sciences, in collaboration with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), launched an online course titled "Conceptos clave sobre VIH, Género y Derechos Humanos" (Key Concepts on HIV, Gender, and Human Rights). The four-module course is designed to provide teaching staff with detailed knowledge about key concepts related to HIV, its treatment and prevention, and the national and international legal framework guiding the response to HIV, as well as the gender and human rights dimensions of the epidemic.

With an estimated three new HIV infections each day in Guatemala and only 73% of the estimated 31,000 people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment and persisting high level of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV, the course is a significant step towards addressing the country's HIV challenges. The course aims to provide teaching staff and students with the necessary resources to promote, protect, and fulfill the human rights of adults, adolescents, and children living with or at risk of acquiring HIV, in all their diversity.

The course consists of 140 hours of study, including 70 hours of theory and 70 hours of practice, and will be undertaken between May and August 2023. Course participants will join virtual classes and synchronous group workshops and will have to submit the required tasks according to a work schedule.

The course covers four modules: Module 1 - Update on HIV and AIDS; Module 2 - National and international legal framework for the response to HIV; Module 3 - Health sector Policy framework for HIV response; Module 4- Key concepts on gender and human Rights.

During the inauguration, Marie Engel, UNAIDS Country Director, expressed her hope that participants would enjoy taking the course as much as she and other partners had in developing it. She also emphasized that "the course will be enriched with participants' individual knowledge and experiences, their doubts and concerns. There is obviously a lot of knowledge and wisdom among course participants that the facilitators will strive to capture."

Dr. José María Gramajo, General Coordinator of the USAC Faculty of Medical Sciences' Area of Teachers and Postgraduate training, highlighted that "this refresher course will contribute to the professional development of faculty teachers, sharing with them the latest knowledge about innovations related to HIV prevention, detection, and care, and ensuring an in-depth understanding of cross-cutting issues relevant to HIV and other public health problems."

Teaching staff and students are catalysts with the power to change the national response to HIV. As stated by Dr. Mirna Herrarte, Coordinator of the national HIV, STI, and AIDS program, "I am glad to know that there are so many professionals who want to know more about HIV. In the country, HIV treatment schemes are constantly reviewed. As an anecdote, Guatemala had more than 200 antiretroviral schemes a year ago. Under my leadership, we have reduced those schemes by 75%."

Inequalities persist in the most basic health and HIV services, such as access to screening, treatment, and condoms. USAC's collaborative initiative is an important step towards ensuring that all sectors, including academia, are engaged in ending social, economic, and legal inequities. The University of San Carlos de Guatemala is the largest and oldest university in Guatemala, and the only national and public university in the Central American country. 

On this Day of Action, as we celebrate a two-year anniversary of the launch by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the Global Strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem, we are reminded that despite the availability of the knowledge, tools and technologies, cervical cancer still kills more than 342 000 women a year (in 2020) globally. Every two minutes one woman loses her life to cervical cancer - a disease that is preventable and curable.

The high burden of cervical cancer is driven by gender, social and economic inequalities and health disparities in access to HPV vaccines, screening, care and modern prevention and treatment technologies. Because of those inequalities, women and girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain most affected. Nine out of 10 women who die of cervical cancer reside in LMICs.  Cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death among women living in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO Global Strategy to eliminate cervical cancer launched by the WHO on 17 November, 2020 was supported among many by the UN partner organizations including IAEA, UNAIDS, UNFPA , UNICEF, and Unitaid. The UN Joint Action Group comprised of these six UN entities each bringing in its unique mandates and resources, is committed to supporting countries efforts in meeting by 2030 the global cervical cancer elimination targets – whereby 90% of girls are fully vaccinated against HPV by age 15, 70% of women are screened with a high-performance test between the ages of 35 to 45, and 90% of women identified as having cervical disease receive treatment. If these targets are met, 300 000 deaths from cervical cancer could be averted by 2030, 14 million by 2070, and over 62 million by 2120.

“In countries with high rates of HIV, over 50% of cervical cancer cases are reported among women living with HIV.  Women living with HIV are six times more likely to develop cervical cancer and to develop it at younger age than those without HIV. It is unacceptable to claim that we have saved a woman’s life by enabling access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV alone, if we then leave her to die from cervical cancer. Our joint focus is on breaking down silos, building bridges between HIV and cervical cancer programmes, and bringing the two communities together because we know that linkages save lives.” – Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director 

“No woman should die of cervical cancer when we have a highly effective HPV vaccine and quality diagnostics. We need prevention and early detection - this is how we ensure that this disease is eliminated globally.  Governments and partners need to invest in accelerated access to resilient primary health care that delivers integrated care like routine immunization and sexual and reproductive health. And we must commit robust long-term human resources for adequate and accessible health care workers in communities and at facility level. Funding for health and health equity are prerequisites for cervical cancer elimination around the world.” - Dr Aboubacar Kampo, Director of Health Programme, UNICEF New York HQ

“We have the tools and technologies to end cervical cancer. Now it is a question of access. Unitaid stepped up the moment WHO issued its call to action, and within just a few years we have introduced effective technologies and developed screen-and-treat models that work in resource-limited settings. The last piece of the puzzle is scale up – we need to see a concerted global effort so every last woman can benefit from life-saving preventive care and we can end cervical cancer for generations to come.” – Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director, Unitaid

“Despite being one of the leading causes of death from cancer for women in low- and medium-income countries (LMICs), cervical cancer is also one of the most preventable and treatable cancer types. Nuclear applications such as diagnostic imaging can help detect the cancer at an early stage and increase survival rates. Radiotherapy can successfully treat women with cervical cancer, even in advanced cases. With our Rays of Hope initiative, we aim to increase access to these technologies worldwide and close the unacceptable gap of inequality.”- Najat Mokhtar, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications

“On this second anniversary of the Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination, the UN Joint Action Group (UNJAG)* celebrates the successes achieved. As the world population continues to grow, more girls and women will require life-saving vaccination, screening and treatment. We acknowledge the need for effective mobilization of resources and partners to achieve the 90-70-90 global elimination targets. Going forward we will continue to focus our attention and joint efforts on ensuring full prevention, high quality life-saving services and equity in access to modern technologies for women and girls across the world.” – Petra ten Hoope-Bender, UNJAG Chair, Technical Adviser Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, UNFPA.

* IAEA, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNITAID and WHO 

Winnie Byanyima, the UNAIDS Executive Director, recently visited the Hakahana Clinic in Katutura, Windhoek, Namibia, where she saw the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) project in action, a project funded by the United States of America. The clinic is a government health facility and a DREAMS participating clinic that has provided health services to 10–24-year-old adolescent girls and young women since September 2020.

Together with the United States Ambassador, Lisa Johnson, and the Executive Director of the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe, Ms Byanyima met with DREAMS girls and community care workers at the facility.

“I am very impressed by the confidence and optimism the young women express as a result of the support they receive through the DREAMS programme,” said Ms Johnson.

The DREAMS project seeks to reduce new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women in Namibia and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, there were 1400 new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years in Namibia—more than double the number of HIV infections among their male peers. It is therefore critical that the HIV response continues to gain momentum.

DREAMS uses a core package of evidence-informed, multisectoral interventions that are proven to reduce new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women. This includes empowering them with social protection, safe spaces, education and economic skills and with access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health services.

“The knowledge I learnt from DREAMS has taught me about making the right decision. I feel empowered,” said Johanna Shinana, a DREAMS Ambassador.

DREAMS is implemented in five districts in three regions of Namibia and the Hakahana Clinic provides eight safe spaces for young women mostly between the ages of 19 and 24 years.

Ms Byanyima, together with Sheila Roseau, the Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Aina Heita, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization National Programme Officer for HIV/AIDS, and Thomas Ukola, the Deputy Director at the Directorate of Special Programmes within the Ministry of Health and Social Services, also visited the Namibia Planned Parenthood Association (NAPPA) clinic, which is also in Katutura.

NAPPA is a welfare organization established in 1996 to complement the Ministry of Health and Social Services to provide sexual and reproductive health services and information to young people aged 15‒24 years and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people from the marginalized and underserved area around Katutura.

“I encourage young people to take advantage of the services that are offered for them and encourage others to take up these services,” said Ms Byanyima while she was at the NAPPA clinic.

Ms Byanyima was introduced to the Condomise Campaign at the clinic. The campaign, supported by UNFPA, is led by young people and provides young people with key messages on sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and skills on how to use condoms correctly.  

Klaivert Muandingi, the President of the African Youth and Adolescents Network in Namibia, called on young people to be free in accessing condoms and other commodities. “Condomize, do not compromise. Love smart and play safe,” he said.

GENEVA, 3 February 2021—UNAIDS warmly welcomes the announcement by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, that he has rescinded the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy (PLGHA, previously known as the Mexico City Policy). The policy required foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they would not perform or actively promote abortion using funds from any source (including non-United States funds) as a condition of receiving United States Government funding.

“Rescinding the PLGHA is a strong demonstration of the new United States Administration’s commitment to supporting women to claim their rights and to access sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director. “We look forward to working closely with the new United States Administration to ensure that all women and girls can exercise their human rights and get the sexual and reproductive health information and services they want and need.”

The former United States Administration took previous restrictions established by the Mexico City Policy to a new level by applying the policy to global health assistance provided by all executive departments and agencies. This severely limited access to critical sexual and reproductive health-care services and stifled local advocacy efforts, in turn undermining human rights in general and sexual and reproductive health and rights in particular worldwide.

UNAIDS welcomes the White House’s call to waive conditions related to the PLGHA in any current grants with immediate effect, to notify current grantees, as soon as possible, that these conditions have been waived and to cease imposing these conditions in any future assistance awards.

“Women and girls having full access to their sexual and reproductive health and rights is closely connected to their overall safety, health and well-being. We hope that this will inform the passage of the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act—legislation designed to permanently repeal the PLGHA,” added Ms Byanyima.

UNAIDS also warmly welcomes the announcement by the President that the United States will restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a key UNAIDS cosponsoring organization working around the world to provide reproductive health care for women and young people. UNAIDS appreciates the commitment by the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to appropriate US$ 32.5 million in support for UNFPA this year.

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.