Launched only a year ago, Fast-Track cities has rapidly taken root and grown. This is the first annual update on progress in implementing the Fast-Track cities approach and it supports one of the seven key commitments contained in the Paris Declaration. This report reflects on the actions taken by cities and by the four core partners— the city of Paris, UNAIDS, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC)—towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. Future reports will illustrate good practices and quantifiable evidence of progress that will inspire and inform Fast-Track cities and the many stakeholders helping to confront AIDS as a health and development challenge.
In this report we review global progress made towards those 10 targets in advance of the critical milestone of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS and in the context of the target of ending AIDS by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. This is an important opportunity to reflect on progress, but also to identify where gaps remain and to take action to ensure that no one is being left behind by the global AIDS response. The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy aims to harness the momentum we have achieved to date. If we do not Fast-Track our efforts the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths will rebound. Investment in AIDS must not falter; in fact, in the short-term it needs to increase. Front-loading investment now will ultimately lead to greater impact and long-term cost-saving.
UNAIDS welcomes the stronger health and rights approach that is emerging in current drug control debates in the context of the 2016 UNGASS on the World Drug Problem. This trend needs to be translated into concrete operational and measurable commitments by Member States.
This is the fourth annual report of the Global Plan, and it summarizes the progress made through December 2014. The final accountability report of the Global Plan will be issued in 2016 when data for the end of 2015 will be available. The Global Plan was developed during 2010 by a Global Task Team (GTT) co-chaired by UNAIDS and the Government of the United States. The GTT consisted of a consortium of stakeholders from 25 countries and 30 civil society groups, private sector partners, networks of people living with HIV and international organizations. The Global Plan was launched as a major new global initiative in 2011, but it uses 2009 as the baseline year against which to measure progress.
The world has halted and reversed the spread of HIV. The epidemic has been forced into decline. New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen dramatically since the peak of the epidemic. Now the response is going one step further—ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Within the pages of this World AIDS Day report, Focus on location and population, are more than 50 examples of how countries are getting on the Fast-Track. It shows how governments are working with community groups and international partners to scale up health and social services that put people at the centre and located where they can do more people more good. Read the publication on ISSUU Part 1 (Foreword - Conclusions) Part 2a (Where services are needed - Lesotho) Part 2b (Malawi - References) Download Part 1 (Foreword - Conclusions) (PDF, 27MB) Part 2a (Where services are needed - Lesotho) (PDF, 87MB) Part 2b (Malawi - References) (PDF, 72MB) Full report (PDF, 186MB)
Quarter for HIV Prevention (#quarter4HIVprevention) is a campaign to recapture imagination and hope for HIV prevention. It provides prevention choices for people at risk, and—most importantly—protects them from HIV infection. Most importantly, it leaves no one behind. Let us invest in HIV prevention; let us get to zero new HIV infections.
HIV treatment is a cornerstone of the AIDS response, helping to prevent AIDS-related deaths and avert new infections. It also helps people living with HIV to live close-to-normal lifespans, thereby reducing HIV-related stigma. Evidence shows that HIV treatment, administered ideally as soon as possible after diagnosis, not only slows disease progression but also prevents onward HIV transmission. Moreover, the right to the highest attainable standard of health necessitates access to treatment and other medicines to ensure that people living with HIV can have long and productive lives.
The human rights response to HIV, largely implemented by civil society, has been crucial to the HIV response, but it appears that the funding for this work is insufficient and may be threatened further. Based on these concerns—and with the support of the Ford Foundation—UNAIDS commissioned research to better understand the current and future funding landscape as experienced by the civil society groups that are implementing key human rights programmes in the HIV response. This paper presents the results of this research and makes recommendations in an effort to ensure sufficient and sustainable funding for that crucial work until the end of the AIDS epidemic.
To reduce new HIV infections globally to fewer than 500 000 by 2020, a step towards ending the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030, we need to Fast-Track the response, including renewed commitment to, sustained funding for and scaled-up implementation of HIV prevention programmes.
Global goals inspire action. They forge new pathways towards a better future and they demonstrate just how inextricably linked we are in this world. Early on in the AIDS response we learned that responding to AIDS could not be done in isolation. We would need a people-centred approach that left no one behind. And the response became an example of what a holistic development agenda could look like when evidence and human rights meet hope and resilience. By reaching and exceeding Millennium Development Goal 6, we halted and reversed the AIDS epidemic and ensured more than 15 million people had access to life-saving HIV treatment. When goals are reached we reach even higher.
The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy is a bold call to action to get on the Fast-Track and reach people being left behind. It is an urgent call to front-load investments. It is a call to reach the 90–90–90 treatment targets, to close the testing gap and to protect the health of the 22 million people living with HIV who are still not accessing treatment. It is a call to redress the deplorably low treatment coverage for children living with HIV.
Language shapes beliefs and may influence behaviours. Considered use of appropriate language has the power to strengthen the global response to the AIDS epidemic. That is why the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is pleased to make these guidelines to Preferred terminology freely available for use by staff members, colleagues in the Programme’s 11 Cosponsoring organizations and other partners working in the global response to HIV. These guidelines are a living, evolving document that is reviewed on a regular basis. This revision of the 2011 edition has discarded a few terms and added new ones that are relevant to the global response to HIV and commonly used by UNAIDS. The same terms, grouped by subject headings, also are listed at the end of this document. These guidelines may be freely copied and reproduced, provided that it is not done for commercial gain and the source is mentioned. Comments and suggestions for additions, deletions or modifications should be sent to terminology@unaids.org.
Cities gave rise to the first cases of HIV infection ever recognized, and the role of urban areas in the global AIDS response has only intensified over time. Globally, 200 cities account for roughly 25% of all people living with HIV. In many countries, a single city accounts for 40% or more of all people living with HIV.
We present here the stories of women in six countries in eastern and southern Africa—Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia—joining them in their journey to motherhood. Their tales demonstrate the courage, tenacity and support that is needed to ensure children remain free from HIV infection and that their mothers stay alive and well. We hope that by reading their stories, you will be inspired to action and that you too will join us in ending the AIDS epidemic among children.
This report draws on multiple sources to document the many ways in which communities are advancing the response to AIDS, and the evidence for the effectiveness of these responses. Core areas of community-based activities include advocacy, service provision, community-based research and financing; each of these areas is illustrated by examples of community-based actions.
Just as we have new opportunities that only a few years ago would have been inconceivable, we also now face new challenges. If the “15 by 15” success story has taught us anything, it is that we have in our hands the power to make the world healthier, more just and more equitable. We hope that this report not only reminds us of our power to change the world when we remain united, but also inspires us to take the actions needed to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat.
