H.E. Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti together with Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

Each year, there are more than 200 million people on the move. The UN estimates that between 20 and 30 million are migrants in irregular situations and that wars and conflicts have caused the displacement of 16 million refugees. 

Many countries around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are affected by intense poverty and violent internal conflicts. This has resulted in large numbers of migrants living in and around the ports. There is also a large community of mobile populations, including truck drivers, dock workers, port staff, security staff, ships crews and sex workers who can be at higher risk of exposure to HIV.

Poverty, social exclusion; separation from families and communities, loneliness, fear and marginalization can make mobile populations and migrants particularly vulnerable to HIV. The situation can also be aggravated by lack of access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services.

“It is essential that mobile and migrant populations living in and transiting through ports have access to HIV services and are included in national HIV plans,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “Achieving universal access goals means making sure all sectors of society are reached, particularly people most vulnerable to infection.”

The Government of Djibouti, in close collaboration with UNAIDS, the International Organization of Migration, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and other partners, convened a meeting from 26-29 September 2010, which brought together leaders from Red Sea countries and other countries across Africa to address the issue of key populations at higher risk of HIV infection along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden ports.

“For us, this conference has been extremely instructive, we have learnt a lot from the experts, but particularly from people living with HIV who have come forward to tell us their stories,” said His Excellency Abdallah Abdillihi Miguel, Minister of Health of Djibouti. “This meeting has reinforced my conviction that we have to continue to work towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and make sure that everyone in need, even those most marginalised and vulnerable, has access to services.”

The experts and leaders agreed to take concrete actions to strengthen advocacy and leadership on HIV and mobility; integrate HIV and mobility into national strategic plans; ensure improved planning; enhance the capacity of civil society and partnerships with the private sector; and develop a common communication strategy with particular emphasis on human rights.

Woman participating in debate in Senegal. Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

The Global Power Africa conference opened on September 26 in Washington D.C. The event brought together women Members of Parliament and Ministers from twelve countries in Africa, to develop strategies to support the implementation of the UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV at country level.

The meeting, held within the framework for the regional Partnership Of Women Elected/Appointed Representatives (GlobalPOWER®) program, was convened by UNAIDS in partnership with the Center for Women Policy Studies.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Management and External Relations, Ms Jan Beagle, opened the event by highlighting UNAIDS’ commitment to work with parliamentarians on developing strategic and results-oriented National Plans on HIV at country level.

“There is a lot of power in this room,” Ms Beagle remarked. “As women, you have the ability to speak for the marginalized – as Michel Sidibé says; you are the voice of the voiceless.”

Ms Beagle stressed the consensus on the need for women-centered approaches that emerged at the Millennium Development Goal summit held in New York 20-22 September. Participants at the summit underscored that without investments in women the MDGs would not be reached.

According to Ms Beagle, UNAIDS believes in the importance of linking gender to all MDGs, as part of the integration of responses to maximize resources for broader health and development outcomes—the AIDS plus MDGs approach.

“We must work with great diligence and care to elevate the status of women and to successfully reduce the burden of HIV.  Zero new infections!  Zero discrimination!  Zero AIDS-related deaths!,” Ms Beagle said.

Two students look at an image part of the joint Reuters and UNAIDS exhibition Time to Act, held at Moscow State University 21 September 2010. The exhibition was launched to coincide with the MDG Summit held at the United Nations in New York, 20-22 September 2010. UNAIDS\Kolomiiets

A new exhibition featuring images representing Russia’s HIV epidemic opened on 21 September at Moscow State University. The international news agency Reuters and the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia partnered to display 35 of Reuters’ most compelling photographs.

Launched to coincide with the 20-22 September MDG Summit in New York, Time To Act gives a strong visual representation of the country’s epidemic. Its organizers hope the exhibition will provide visitors with an overview of the many sensitive issues facing Russia as it responds to its growing HIV epidemic.

Taken by seven photographers over the past 12 years, the photographs capture the scale and scope of the epidemic in Russia, from civil society protests and children orphaned by AIDS to the struggles encountered by key populations at higher risk.

Many of the images on display are striking but they communicate the reality of the challenges Russia and the Eastern European and Central Asia face in responding to HIV,” said Dr Denis Broun, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for the region. Information on HIV and how it is prevented should be provided coherently by health facilities, the media, schools and universities—this exhibition is a good example of making HIV awareness persuasive and informative.

The photographs are paired with statistics that provide information on the epidemic and its trends in the region. According to UNAIDS, an estimated 110 000 people were newly infected with HIV in the region in 2008, bringing the number of people living with HIV to 1.5 million.

“Young people and other visitors can’t stay indifferent after seeing the exhibition,” said Elena Vartanova, the Dean of Moscow State University’s Journalism Department, the host of the exhibition. “The images urge us to think and to take actions towards stopping the spread of the HIV epidemic.”

Time to Act runs until 29 October 2010.

Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister Zainab Hawa Bangura at the 2010 MDG Award Ceremony, 19 September 2010.

At a ceremony on the eve of the 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit, held in New York from 20-22 September, the Government of Sierra Leone was presented with an MDG Award for its leadership and progress towards achieving MDG 6, to stop and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015.

The MDG Awards Committee was impressed by Sierra Leone's efforts in developing an innovative and comprehensive national HIV strategy and, in particular, the high-level political commitment and involvement of Sierra Leone’s President, H.E. Ernest Bai Koroma, who chairs the country’s National AIDS Council (NAC).

Under the leadership of the NAC, the technical coordination of the National AIDS Secretariat and the engagement of multi-sector partners, Sierra Leone’s HIV prevalence has stabilized, as highlighted in UNAIDS’ special publication for the MDG Summit, MDG 6.

Partners credit a national commitment towards advancing the greater involvement of people living with HIV in the response and the scale up of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services as key contributors to Sierra Leone’s progress on MDG 6.

“In a post-conflict country with a host of development challenges, the MDG Award is evidence of dedicated national leadership and true partnership,” said UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Mulunesh Tennagashaw. “The Award is an inspiration for all partners, and it will help drive us towards reaching greater results.”

With the development of a new National Strategic Plan on AIDS, the government has set its sights on zero new HIV infections by 2015.

The MDG Award was presented to Foreign Minister Zainab Hawa Bangura. The Awards are held annually to support and raise awareness of the MDGs by providing a high profile platform to honour and celebrate exemplary efforts by national governments and civil society stakeholders in advancing the achievement of the MDGs.

On the concluding day of the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, a concerted effort to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children.

In support of the Secretary-General’s new global strategy, foundations, civil society, private sector companies and other partners pledged more than US$ 40 billion in resources for women’s and children’s health.

“The 21st century must be and will be different for every woman and every child” said Secretary-General Ban in a press release announcing the strategy.

A high level panel was convened on 22 September to discuss the strategy. Participants included H.E. Wen Jiabao, Premier of China, H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, H.E. Mizengo Pinda, Prime Minister of Tanzania, and H.E. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State.

International organizations including UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO and the World Bank were in attendance and are collaborating on a new initiative to mobilize political and operational support.

“I am committed to the Secretary-General’s strategy on women’s and children’s health—the response to his call is unprecedented,” said Mr Sidibé. “It is clear we must leverage investments in the HIV response to support progress across all the MDGs.”

The Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health is a roadmap that identifies the financial and policy changes needed as well as critical interventions required to improve health and save lives.

The UN estimates that from 2011 to 2015 by implementing the Global Strategy many far-reaching gains will be made, from averting the deaths of 15 million children under five to preventing 740,000 women from dying of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.

Read Press Release here.

If the global HIV epidemic is to be curbed, links between HIV and reaching other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) need to be explored, strengthened and leveraged. This is the key conclusion emerging from a new publication by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released today at the UNAIDS hosted MDG Summit side event – AIDS plus MDGs: Delivering results towards our shared commitments.

The publication, The ‘AIDS and MDGs’ Approach: What is it, why does it matter and how do we take it forward?, highlights changes in the health and development landscape resulting in a need to re-think the relationship between HIV and the MDGs. This approach effectively addresses both the short- and long-term challenges and impacts of the HIV epidemic while promoting the attainment of wider health and development goals.

Drawing on recent research, programme experience, and country progress reports, the paper outlines three important elements: understanding how HIV and the other MDGs impact one another; exchanging programmatic lessons across HIV and the other MDGs; and, creating synergy and increasing cost-effectiveness through strategies that simultaneously address HIV and other MDGs.

“From the earliest days of the global AIDS epidemic, many have recognised that effective responses must combine biomedical and behavioural interventions with multi-sectoral strategies that address human rights and the underlying socio-economic conditions that shape vulnerability,” said Jeffrey O’Malley, Director of UNDP’s HIV/AIDS Practice.

“The MDG Summit signifies an exciting and historic opportunity to reaffirm commitments to address health and development together, and to exchange important lessons between the response to HIV and action to address other MDGs,” he said.

The report highlights case studies of how cross-MDG synergy can be promoted. For example, in Malawi’s Zomba district, the World Bank implemented a cash-transfer programme to encourage girls’ school attendance. A recent study showed a 60% decrease in HIV and other STI risk among participants. The girls were also more likely to stay in school, have a smaller age gap with male partners, and delay marriage.

The project demonstrates how leveraging the links between HIV and a range of other development issues can spur significant and accelerated progress towards multiple MDGs at once.

Mr George Goldsmith, Chairman and Founder, Tapestry Networks, and Ms Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director Management and Programmes Branch, UNAIDS, 22 September, 2010.

Today 300 Heads of States and Governments, chief executives, civil society leaders and Heads of UN agencies participated in the United Nations Private Sector Forum on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The objective of the meeting was to identify concrete actions the private sector can take to help close MDG implementation gaps over the next five years. Among the topics addressed by the forum was maternal and child health and HIV, as well as empowering women and achieving equality.

“We depend on the resources and capacity of the private sector to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The private sector has the lead on innovation,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Companies committed to conduct business in a responsible manner, aligned with fundamental environmental and social values and the Secretary-General called upon the private sector to invest in new and creative ways to capitalize on innovations, products and services to benefit the poor.

“UNAIDS strongly believes that without action to promote the rights of women and girls, the AIDS response has no hope of reversing the epidemic,” said Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Programmes and Management Branch.

“Governments, civil society and the private sector must come together to ensure that women and girls have universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” she said. “We must have zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related-deaths among women and girls.”

The United Nations is strengthening its capacity to engage and partner with the private sector. UN agencies, funds and programmes have a number of partnership opportunities for businesses to leverage their relative strengths, resources and competencies in support of achieving the MDGs.

Further information on these and other UN–business partnerships that could benefit from additional corporate engagement and support can be found at business.un.org.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking at Global Fund Champions for Global Health session at UN MDG Summit 2010, New York. Credit: UNAIDS/Hamilton

On Tuesday 21^st September, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria organized an event entitled “Champions for Global Health - Financing the health related MDGs”. The meeting aimed at raising awareness among world leaders attending the MDG Summit as to the linkage between a fully-funded Global Fund and the achievement of the health related MDGs.

Meeting participants included Ministers from donor and recipient countries, leaders from the private sector, foundations, faith-based and international organizations.

“The Global Fund has emerged as the 21st century’s most powerful channel for health financing,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “I am here to clearly demonstrate UNAIDS’ commitment to a fully funded Global Fund. However, the shared responsibility for ending the AIDS epidemic belongs to all of us—governments, civil society, the media, as well as committed individuals.”

2010 will be decisive for global health, because it is the year in which donor governments will commit funding to the Global Fund to cover programmes for 2011 to 2013. For that reason, the meeting provided a public platform for donor countries and private sector organizations to announce their pledges to the Global Fund in advance of its third replenishment meeting which will be held on 4 - 5 October in New York and will be chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General WHO and Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director at the Global Fund Champions for Global Health session at UN MDG Summit 2010, New York. Credit: UNAIDS/Hamilton

It is estimated that nearly 2.8 million people are accessing treatment through funds provided by the Global Fund, more than half of the people on treatment today. However there are nearly 10 million people living with HIV who urgently need treatment.  Five people are newly infected with HIV for every two people who newly access treatment.

New UNAIDS data show that new HIV infections have declined by more than 25% in 22 countries most affected by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. With nearly 5.2 million people on antiretroviral therapy, AIDS-related deaths have also fallen.

“Together, we can reach our goal if the Global Fund and its partners have enough resources to continue the dramatic progress that has been made in the response to AIDS in the past few years,” highlighted Mr Sidibé. He also noted that “If we are unable to provide the necessary resources, we could lose the tremendous gains we have made, and the inspiration and momentum for millions of people.”

A global consensus is emerging that accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and more efficient use of resources can be achieved by taking the AIDS response out of isolation and integrating it with efforts to achieve other health and development goals.

On 22 September, the last day of the UN MDG Summit in New York, UNAIDS will co-host the event ‘AIDS plus MDGs: Delivering results towards our shared commitments’ together with the Governments of China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Premier Wen Jiabao of China and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia will be joined by Nigeria’s and South Africa’s Ministers of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu and Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, respectively, to generate political commitment to leverage the AIDS response to achieve the MDGs. Representing the United Nations will be UN Deputy Secretary-General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, and UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé, who will chair the event.

“World leaders and UNAIDS are joining together to give the message that we must invest strategically to address multiple MDGs,” said Mr Sidibé. “Releasing the power, capacity and innovation of the AIDS movement may provide one of the best opportunities to ‘do the MDGs’ differently.”

The relationship between AIDS and the MDGs is reciprocal: investments in the AIDS repose advance all the MDGs and efforts to meet the eight Goals address the social drivers of the HIV epidemic. To find out more about AIDS and the MDG, read the UNAIDS report AIDS plus MDGs: synergies that serve people, a report prepared by the Government of Ethiopia and a UNAIDS case study on Rwanda.

 

Addressing the special needs of the most vulnerable took centre stage at the 5th interactive round-table session organized in concurrence with the UN Summit held in New York, 20-22 September 2010.

According to the round-table participants, the most vulnerable countries and people are at risk of being left behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). They added that natural disasters, food and economic crises, poverty or armed conflict cause a disproportionate burden among the most vulnerable and are major challenges to achieving the Goals.

Participants emphasized the need for special assistance to help the most vulnerable countries achieve progress. And argued that addressing the special needs of vulnerable communities and people will help protect their basic human rights and ensure that they benefit from progress made in attaining the MDGs.

“Failure to reach vulnerable people is one of the greatest challenges we have in reducing new HIV infections” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michele Sidibé. “When the most vulnerable people are not able to access HIV services, it endangers the health and wellbeing of the entire community and it blocks progress toward every one of the MDGs,” he added.

While some countries have made notable progress towards meeting the MDGs, some gains have been undermined by the adverse impacts of natural disasters, climate change and the recent food, fuel and global economic and financial crises. Additional support from the international community was identified by the round-table as necessary to improve vulnerable countries’ ability to face such challenges.

Participants agreed that addressing the needs of vulnerable communities and people would involve: Strengthening national capacity to identify the most vulnerable in order to address their needs and protect their rights; establishing a social protection floor and increasing access to education and decent work; as well as implementing effective measures to combat all forms of discrimination and social exclusion.