GENEVA, 4 March 2014 – The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance efforts in scaling up access to HIV testing and treatment. The IFRC and UNAIDS will combine expertise and capacity to support the implementation of UNAIDS’ Treatment 2015 initiative and develop a community model for delivering scaled-up access to HIV treatment.

In the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, United Nations Member States committed to working towards ensuring 15 million people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral treatment by 2015. By the end of 2012, around 10 million people had access to the lifesaving treatment—three quarters were in Africa

“Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers deliver health services to millions of people, including some of the most marginalized people in hard-to-reach communities,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “By supporting the volunteers, engaging people living with HIV and strengthening community-based services I strongly believe we will be able to exceed the target of reaching 15 million people with treatment by 2015.”

It is estimated that only half of all people living with HIV are aware of their HIV status, highlighting the urgent need to expand access to HIV testing services. Voluntary and confidential HIV testing is central to UNAIDS’ Treatment 2015 initiative. The initiative outlines three fundamental pillars essential to reaching the 2015 target; Demand––increasing demand for HIV testing and treatment services; Invest––mobilizing resources and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending; and Deliver––ensuring more people have equal access to HIV testing and treatment.

"The community health workforce has the capacity to provide almost 40% of HIV service-related tasks,” said Bekele Geleta, Secretary General, IFRC. “Our decades of experience in HIV testing campaigns, treatment adherence and compliance will inform a successful community service delivery model like the one we are developing in Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria. The solution is at hand but the time to invest in decentralized services is now if we are to avert millions of deaths by 2015 and beyond.”

UNAIDS is inspired by the incredible response to the first Zero Discrimination Day

GENEVA, 1 March 2014—People from all walks of life and in every region of the world are commemorating Zero Discrimination Day with a wide range of activities. UNAIDS called for the annual event, which is being celebrated for the first time on 1 March.

“Hatred of any kind must have no place in the 21st century,” said the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“Discrimination is a violation of human rights. It is immoral, hurtful and dehumanizing. Yet too many people around the world continue to face unfair, harmful or violent treatment simply because of the circumstances of their birth or environment,” said Dr John Ashe, President of the General Assembly.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé has expressed his appreciation for the outpouring of support for the campaign. Working with Nobel Peace Prize winner and UNAIDS Global Advocate for Zero Discrimination Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, UNAIDS launched the #zerodiscrimination campaign in December 2013 on World AIDS Day.

“For all who seek a more just world, for all who strive for peace and prosperity—let us start by stopping the inequality and discrimination happening around us,” said Mr Sidibé.

Many government ministries, lawmakers, business leaders and international organizations are supporting the zero discrimination campaign.

“Institutionalized discrimination is bad for people and for societies,” said Dr Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group. “Widespread discrimination is also bad for economies. There is clear evidence that when societies enact laws that prevent productive people from fully participating in the workforce, economies suffer.”

“Achieving zero discrimination is critical for the success of the AIDS response. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is fully committed through its Getting to Zero at Work campaign,” said Guy Ryder, Director-General of ILO.

“Eliminating discrimination is the one step that can enable the world to achieve the UN General Assembly's 2011 target of a 50 per cent reduction of HIV infection among people who use drugs by 2015," said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov. "Take that step, say yes to #zerodiscrimination, commit, transform and let's reach the target."

The butterfly is widely recognized as a sign for transformation and the campaign has adopted it as the symbol for zero discrimination. People have supported the campaign by taking photographs holding up the butterfly symbol in places across the globe, including snowy mountain tops, office cubicles, amusement parks, fire stations and the world famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At a commercial shopping complex in Kandy, Sri Lanka, campaign supporters are organizing a mass photography shoot with the zero discrimination symbol.

The Asia-Pacific Transgender Network has used the occasion of Zero Discrimination Day to produce in partnership with UNAIDS a powerful video about the transgender experience. The Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS is holding a series of country-level and regional dialogues with government, civil society, business and religious groups, as well as young people, on the importance of building solidarity for everyone. The Youth Taekwondo Association of Tajikistan is holding an event called “Sport against stigma and discrimination.”

Many celebrities have recorded video messages or taken photographs with the butterfly, including the global Indian icon and UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the popular Russian science commentator and naturalist Nikolai Drozdov and the highly acclaimed musician from Mali and International Goodwill Ambassador Toumani Diabaté. The international television broadcaster CNN is supporting the campaign and many local and regional media outlets are featuring discussions on zero discrimination. In Pakistan, Radio Pakistan and PTV World, the country’s only English channel, hosted talk shows with people from key groups who often face discrimination.

More information is available at:

http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/20131126zerodiscrimination/

https://www.facebook.com/zerodiscrimination

http://zerodiscrimination.tumblr.com/

#zerodiscrimination

GENEVA, 27 February 2014—UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé launched the Zero Discrimination Day on 27 February with a major event in Beijing, China supported by the China Red Ribbon Foundation, Hanergy Holding Group, Chinese government, civil society and celebrities. Similar events are planned for the days leading up to 1 March 2014 in countries around the world. Zero Discrimination Day is a call to people everywhere to promote and celebrate everyone’s right to live a full life with dignity—no matter what they look like, where they come from or whom they love. The symbol for Zero Discrimination is the butterfly, widely recognized as a sign of transformation.

At the Zero Discrimination Day event in Beijing, Li Hejun, Chairman and CEO of Hanergy Holding Group; Gu Yanfen, General Secretary of the China Red Ribbon Foundation; and Mr Sidibé delivered opening remarks. James Chau, news anchor for the China Central Television and UNAIDS National Goodwill Ambassador, moderated a panel discussion on discrimination. The event ended with more than 30 business leaders signing a pledge to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.

“The AIDS response itself has taught the world tremendous lessons in tolerance and compassion,” Mr Sidibé said. “We know that both the right to health and the right to dignity belong to everyone. Working together, we can transform ourselves, our communities and our world to reach zero discrimination.”    

Working with Nobel Peace Prize winner and UNAIDS Global Advocate for Zero Discrimination Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, UNAIDS launched the #zerodiscrimination campaign in December 2013 on World AIDS Day.

“People who discriminate narrow the world of others as well as their own,” said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. “I believe in a world where everyone can flower and blossom.”

Many international celebrities have joined the call for zero discrimination, recording video messages and taking photographs with the butterfly sign. The personalities include UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox, international football star David Luiz, actress and activist Michelle Yeoh and HSH Princess Stephanie of Monaco.

“Hanergy recognizes the right of all employees to live a life of dignity, free from discrimination,” said Mr Li. “With the support of UNAIDS, Hanergy has worked to expand staff training on HIV and discrimination for all employees, and has integrated anti-discrimination content into company recruitment policies.”

The private sector is also playing an important part in commemorating Zero Discrimination Day in South Africa, where as part of a longstanding partnership with UNAIDS, the Standard Bank is conducting a social media drive around the day. The almost 3.5 million subscribers of Airtel, the largest mobile telephone service provider in Malawi will receive a message promoting zero discrimination on 1 March. In Myanmar, two major football teams in collaboration with the Myanmar National Football League and Federation will make a pledge supporting zero discrimination during a match at the national football stadium in Yangon. In Minsk, Belarus, an interactive dialogue on promoting zero discrimination in the region will take place with young people; participants will include pop singer Teo. A similar event organized by people living with HIV as well as lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people will take place in a central park in the city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

More information is available at:

http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/20131126zerodiscrimination/

https://www.facebook.com/zerodiscrimination

http://zerodiscrimination.tumblr.com/

#zerodiscrimination

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Michel Sidibé and high-level delegation visit IDP sites

GENEVA/BANGUI, 20 February 2014—The Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé has witnessed the desperate conditions for internally displaced people (IDP) in the Central African Republic. He flew to Bossangoa in the northwest part of the country on 20 February with Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos and other senior high-level officials.

Bossangoa has suffered a wave of sectarian violence and the city which once had some 50 000 residents is now nearly empty as people have left their homes to escape the violence between Muslims and Christians. Now most of the city’s former residents live in two separate sites—one for Muslims and the other for Christians.

The delegation visited both IDP sites and Mr Sidibé spoke with Christians and Muslims and met with religious leaders from both faiths. Several attempts by religious leaders have so far failed to bring about reconciliation and people are refusing to return home out of fear of further violence.

“The human suffering and misery must end,” said Mr Sidibé. “We must ensure the existence of minimum security conditions so that people can return to their homes without fear of violence.”

“We are calling for security and protection. We don’t want to leave the Central African Republic and flee to Chad. This is where we have our families and our life,” said the Imam of the Boro district of Bossangoa, Ismaël Naffi.

Life at the IDP sites is hard. While numbers fluctuate, it is estimated about 36 000 Christians are on the grounds of the Catholic mission of Saint Antoine de Padoue––and about 1 200 Muslims are living in a school called “Liberté”. Conditions are very difficult with food, clean water, medical care and proper sanitation in short supply. The coming rainy season is likely to worsen conditions.

“We are speaking in the name of all the people who are still living in abandoned sites and don’t have any recourse,” said the Archbishop of Bangui, Monsignor Dieudonne Nzapalainga. We are asking that a solution is found on the international level so that security returns…so that cohesion returns and each one of us can rebuild this country that we all love.”

According to latest UN reports the unrelenting violence has forced around 700 000 people to flee their homes searching for safety within the country’s borders and many others have crossed the borders into neighbouring countries. There are growing food shortages and increasing numbers of displaced people with acute nutrition needs are arriving in the capital city of Bangui. Life-saving medical and health care services are needed in the most affected areas including essential medicines, laboratory supplies, safe blood and medicines to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases.  

There is also growing concern over the safety of women and girls as there are an alarming number of reports of sexual attacks in IDP sites.

“It is intolerable that violence stalks women and girls as they try to rebuild their lives in temporary homes,” said Mr Sidibé. “It is already traumatic to be up-rooted by warring militias from familiar communities, and so IDP centres must provide true safe havens for women and girls.”

At the moment there are limited funds for gender-based violence emergency-response efforts and few IDP sites offer adequate medical and psychosocial response services to survivors of violence.

Prior to the start of the current crisis, the country was already struggling with its AIDS response and the ongoing violence is making the situation even more difficult. According to the country’s authorities 125 000 people were living with HIV in 2012, of whom 15 000 were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Since the violence began, two-thirds of people living with HIV on treatment have fled their homes and are no longer able to access the medicines and care they need. There is growing concern that the interruption in treatment will cause a resistance to the life-saving drugs, making future care difficult.

The UNAIDS and Lancet Commission: Defeating AIDS – Advancing global health, reconvenes in London for final meeting on the future of HIV and global health

LONDON/GENEVA, 13 February 2014—The UNAIDS and Lancet Commission: Defeating AIDS – Advancing global health is meeting in London on the future of AIDS and global health in the post-2015 era—the recommendations will be published in The Lancet later this year.

“The fight against AIDS is not over yet. We need to intensify efforts to achieve a historic victory against this disease,” said the President of the Republic of Ghana John Dramani Mahama. “Everyone has a key role to play in achieving this objective. We have to take action to ensure that we are doing the best possible for our countries, for our people and for humanity.”

“We have made remarkable progress in the fight against AIDS but the fight is not over and complacency is our worst enemy,” said the President of Benin, Yayi Boni through a video message. “Ending AIDS and extreme poverty is a shared responsibility that must be a priority for Africa and the world.”

The Commission, which was established in early 2013 brings together more than 40 Heads of State and political leaders, HIV and health experts, young people, activists, scientists and private sector representatives to ensure that lessons learned in the AIDS response can be applied to transform how countries and partners approach health and development.

“This Commission bears an historic role, based on accumulated knowledge and technologies, to find new approaches and to redouble its efforts in defeating HIV as regards the next generation,” pointed out the First Lady of Japan Akie Abe. “We must proceed while leaving no one behind. We must apply the achievements of the AIDS response to other areas for realizing better health.”

“Equal access to HIV services will halt and reverse the epidemic and contribute to economic growth and people's well-being,” said the First Lady of Gabon Sylvia Bongo Ondimba. “That is why HIV services must be integrated in all countries' development plans.”

“We have managed to provide treatment and care for people living with HIV but now many also face non-communicable diseases,” said the First Lady of Rwanda Jeannette Kagame. “The changing nature of the disease is an illustration of how difficult it is to find a cure or vaccine so we must be adaptive and responsive. Africa should be ready! The worst is behind us. Now we know how to prevent, how to treat and how to care. We should build from what we have started and do it yesterday.”

The Commission, convened by Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, is co-chaired by Malawi President Joyce Banda, African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Director Peter Piot. 

As part of the Commissions’ efforts to provide a framework for informing how to address AIDS and health in the context of the post-2015 development agenda, dialogues have been held across regions, bringing together diverse perspectives to inform the discussions of the Commission’s London meeting. The final recommendations will be compiled in a comprehensive report which will be published in the medical journal The Lancet.

Star studded effort to support the expansion of Treatment 2015 with US$ 2 million grant to UNAIDS to deliver HIV treatment and care for adolescents and young people worldwide

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 30 January 2014—The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) announced today the expansion of its Treatment 2015 initiative with a US$ 2 million grant provided by the heart and soul of M∙A∙C Cosmetics, the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund. The Fund is fully supported from the sale of VIVA GLAM Lipstick and Lipglass with global superstar Rihanna lending her celebrity to spur purchase and awareness. Leveraging this new funding, UNAIDS will build on Treatment 2015 by advancing global, regional and country level policies and programs to expand HIV testing and treatment to young people worldwide.

"M∙A∙C Cosmetics has a long history of engaging the right star power to motivate our customers and make an impact on this important cause. With UNAIDS' resources and strategic thinking and Rihanna's passionate support, we’re helping save lives one lipstick at a time,” said John Demsey, Group President of The Estée Lauder Companies.

Globally, an estimated 5.4 million[1] adolescents and young people are living with HIV, and 1.8 million[1] are eligible for HIV treatment. Millions of young people living with HIV do not know they are infected, and every day, approximately 2,100 adolescents and young people[1] are newly infected, which accounts for 39% of all new adult HIV infections globally. While antiretroviral therapy has resulted in a decline in AIDS-related deaths, modelling suggests that adolescents from 10 to 19-years-old are the only age group in which AIDS-related deaths rose between 2001 and 2012. The trend in AIDS-related deaths can be attributed to poor prioritization of adolescents in strategic plans for scale-up of HIV treatment and the lack of testing and counselling.

“Young people will lead us to an AIDS-free generation. By ensuring adolescents and young people have access to HIV services, we are not only saving lives but also investing in a healthier future for generations to come,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We are truly honored to be working with the M∙A∙CAIDS Fund to help young people around the world access earlier HIV testing and treatment.”

The UNAIDS Treatment 2015 initiative aims to reach 15 million adults and young people with HIV treatment by 2015. The US$ 2 million grant from the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund will support expanded efforts to ensure adolescents and young people have access to HIV treatment and care internationally. New youth outreach efforts will include the evaluation of young people testing and treatment programmes and adaptation of adolescent and young people treatment guidelines.

“Ending the AIDS epidemic is within our power, but we cannot achieve it without expanding treatment access to ensure some of the most underserved, vulnerable communities, particularly young people, are not left behind,” said Nancy Mahon, Global Executive Director of the M∙A∙CAIDS Fund. “For this reason, the M∙A∙CAIDS Fund will continue to invest in strategic, impactful initiatives like UNAIDS’ Treatment 2015 that are working toward ending AIDS once and for all.”

The grant to UNAIDS was made possible exclusively through the sale of M∙A∙C’s VIVA GLAM Lipstick and Lipglass, which M∙A∙Cdonates 100% of the sale price to fight HIV. Rihanna, M∙A∙C’s new VIVA GLAM spokesperson, recently launched her new VIVA GLAM collection, which will benefit organizations like UNAIDS to support men, women and children affected by HIV globally.

"I'm honored to join forces with the M∙A∙C AIDS Fund and UNAIDS in the fight against AIDS," said Rihanna. "I want to help reach as many young people around the world as I can. While we need to begin with education, we also need to deliver HIV testing and treatment to the millions of young people who need our help, which is exactly what we plan to do."

UNAIDS Treatment 2015 has started to roll out globally. To learn more about UNAIDS’s plans to reach 15 million people by 2015, download the UNAIDS Treatment 2015 report.

[1] UNAIDS 2012 Estimates

GENEVA/WASHINGTON, 15 January 2014—During a high-level meeting and discussions in Washington last week, UNAIDS and the World Bank Group endorsed four areas of action to accelerate efforts that address the interrelated challenges of AIDS, inequality and extreme poverty.

UNAIDS and the World Bank Group have committed to work closely with UNDP and other international partners, to address the social and structural drivers of the HIV epidemic that put people at greater risk of HIV and deny them access to services. These social and structural drivers include gender inequality, stigma and discrimination, lack of access to education and unstable livelihoods. UNAIDS and the World Bank Group will advocate for:

1. Aligning health and development efforts around country-led time-bound goals towards ending extreme poverty and AIDS, with special attention to the inclusion of the poorest and most marginalized populations. Areas of focus will include: supporting countries to adopt progressive legal systems that remove discriminatory laws, especially among populations most vulnerable to HIV infection; increasing access to income, adequate housing and safe working conditions; and accelerating reforms towards universal health coverage and universal access to HIV services and commodities.
2. Urging the post-2015 development agenda to include targets towards ending AIDS alongside the goal of universal health coverage, so that no one falls into poverty or is kept in poverty due to payment for AIDS treatment or health care.
3. Promoting national and global monitoring and implementation research. Actions will include: working closely with global partners and countries to innovate and monitor service delivery, including for HIV, especially to the poorest and the most marginalized; and intensify implementation research to capture and codify innovative approaches to address the linkages between efforts towards ending extreme poverty and ending AIDS. As part of this effort, the World Bank Group will launch a major new trial to better understand how social protection systems reduce HIV infection, particularly among young women in the highest burden hyper-endemic countries.
4. Convening two high-level meetings in 2014 with national policy leaders and experts on ending AIDS and extreme poverty. The first meeting will be convened in Southern Africa to share current research and discuss how it can be translated into practice. The second meeting will be held during the International AIDS Conference in July 2014 in Melbourne.

Despite unprecedented progress over the past decade in the global response to HIV, economic inequality, social marginalization and other structural factors have continued to fuel the HIV epidemic. The epidemic continues to undermine efforts to reduce poverty and marginalization. HIV deepens poverty, exacerbates social and economic inequalities, diminishes opportunities for economic and social advancement and causes profound human hardship.

“Ending the AIDS epidemic and extreme poverty is within our power,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS. “Our combined efforts will contribute to a global movement working to ensure that every person can realize their right to quality healthcare and live free from poverty and discrimination.”

“Just as money alone is insufficient to end poverty, science is powerless to defeat AIDS unless we tackle the underlying social and structural factors,” said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group. “To end both AIDS and poverty, we need sustained political will, social activism, and an unwavering commitment to equity and social justice.”

“Stigma, discrimination and marginalization stand in the way of fully realizing the promise of HIV prevention and treatment technologies,” said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator. “We know that where laws and policies enable people affected by HIV to participate with dignity in daily life without fearing discrimination, they are more likely to seek prevention, care and support services.”

Improving health services and outcomes is critical to ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The recent Lancet Commission on Investing in Health estimated that up to 24% of economic growth in low- and middle-income countries was due to better health outcomes. The payoffs are immense: the Commission concluded that investing in health yields a 9 to 20-fold return on investment.

Investing in health also means investing in equity. Essential elements of a human rights-based response to HIV include: enabling laws, policies and initiatives that protect and promote access to effective health and social services, including access to secure housing, adequate nutrition and other essential services. Such measures can help protect people affected by HIV from stigma, discrimination, violence and economic vulnerability. HIV-sensitive social protection is already a key component of the UNAIDS vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

“Pills on a shelf do not save lives,” said Sveta Moroz of the Union of Women of Ukraine Affected by HIV. “To end the AIDS epidemic for everyone will require a people-centered approach driven by the community and based on social justice. It demands an approach that ensures basic human rights to safe housing, access to healthcare, food security and economic opportunity. These are rights that actively remove barriers to real people’s engagement in effective HIV prevention and care.”

UNAIDS and the World Bank Group will work to ensure that these efforts feature prominently in the post-2015 global development agenda, and are integral elements in ending AIDS, achieving universal health coverage, ending extreme poverty and inequality and building shared prosperity.

GENEVA/WASHINGTON, 10 January 2014—UNAIDS and the Organization of American States (OAS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in efforts to advance the response to HIV among the OAS Member States. 

Through the MoU, UNAIDS and the OAS will increase HIV outreach activities such as information and education campaigns, policy roundtables, forums, lectures and scholarships programmes aimed at reducing new HIV infections, expanding access to antiretroviral treatment and supporting people living with HIV. UNAIDS and the OAS will also foster collaboration with regional networks of HIV positive youth to strengthen HIV awareness and prevention education, enhance social protection for young people, counter gender-based violence and challenge harmful gender norms among young people.

“HIV is more than a disease. It is an issue of security, social justice and distribution of opportunities,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We must leverage this partnership to ensure that no one is left behind in the response to HIV in the Americas and that people most affected by HIV have access to essential HIV prevention and treatment services.”

Key populations including men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs and transgender people remain most affected by HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although new infections have stabilised, they are still not declining.  The existence and enforcement of punitive laws as well as widespread stigma and discrimination against men who have sex with men, transgender people and sex workers continue to marginalize people most in need and block access to lifesaving HIV services.

“We have managed to break the curve of growth of infection,” said Miguel Jose Insulza, OAS Secretary General. “We now need to address structural, cross-cutting issues, including gender-based violence.”

In June 2013 the OAS General Assembly passed the Resolution on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of People Vulnerable to, Living with, of Affected by HIV/AIDS in the Americas. The Resolution urges Member States to continue their efforts in support to laws and public policies to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people living with HIV, and to increase HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women and mothers, including preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The Resolution also promotes greater involvement of people living with HIV in decision-making and in the drafting of policies and programmes in response to the epidemic.

GENEVA, 20 December 2013—The governing body of UNAIDS––the Programme Coordinating Board—has concluded its three-day meeting in Geneva. The Board called on UNAIDS to support on-going country and international processes to set revised national targets for universal access to HIV treatment.

The Board called on Member States to expand access to antiretroviral therapy by implementing the 2013 World Health Organization guidelines on access to treatment. They also stressed the importance of ensuring that acceleration of access to HIV treatment, including addressing the barriers to treatment access, is factored into all stages of HIV and health planning. In addition to support with national treatment target setting, the Board requested support from UNAIDS in reducing the price of medicines, technical support and capacity development.

During the meeting, which took place from 17-19 December, Board members highlighted the importance of intensifying efforts in the AIDS response beyond 2015 and emphasised that ending AIDS must have a prime position in the post-2015 agenda.

In his opening address, the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé echoed the importance of keeping focused on ending AIDS. “Ending AIDS will be a global achievement of historic dimensions,” said Mr Sidibé. “Not only will millions of lives be saved, but ending AIDS will drive better health, poverty and equity outcomes for the entire human family.”

UNAIDS was also requested to intensify coordinated technical support to governments, civil society, and key populations, and to further support countries in the roll-out of the New Funding Model of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

The meeting concluded with a full-day thematic segment on HIV, adolescents and youth where young people led sessions on prevention, testing and treatment and explored ideas, experiences and solutions with the Board members about the shape and scope of meaningful HIV programmes for young people.

Participants and observers from UN Member States, international organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations attended the meeting, which was chaired by India. The Board elected Australia as Chair and Zimbabwe as Vice Chair for 2014.

UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the Board, decisions, recommendations and conclusions from the meeting can be found at unaids.org.

The campaign, ‘Where history is made,’ invites guests to make history and make a pledge for an AIDS-free generation

GENEVA, 16 December 2013—UNAIDS and the hotel InterContinental Genève have come together in a public-private partnership to advance efforts to ensure that all children can be born free from HIV, that their mothers have access to life-saving medicines and that all children living with HIV can lead healthy lives.

Countries have committed to eliminating new HIV infections among children by 2015. Although great progress has been made—with new HIV infections among children having been reduced by 53% since 2001—there is still a major push needed to help countries reach their goals. In 2013, just 28% of children in need of treatment had access.

“By keeping children free from HIV we are not only saving lives, we are investing in a healthier future for generations to come,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I am honoured that the hotel InterContinental Genève is partnering with us to provide more people with the opportunity to join our efforts in making an AIDS-free generation possible.”  

One of the first initiatives of the joint partnership is the launch of a campaign to raise both awareness and funds for an AIDS-free generation. The campaign, Where history is made, launched at a special event held at the hotel on 16 December, invites guests to make history and a pledge for an AIDS-free generation. Hotel staff will play an integral role with AIDS-awareness training and will be able to share information with guests about the importance of keeping children free from HIV. Hotel guests will be able to join the campaign by making a donation as they check out or when they visit the hotel restaurant or bar.

“The hotel has a longstanding history and relationship with the UN in Geneva, and we are excited to have formed this partnership with UNAIDS,” said the General Manager of the hotel InterContinental Genève, Jürgen Baumhoff.

The hotel InterContinental Genève is an important landmark in Geneva, standing at the intersection of the city and the United Nations. In 2014 the hotel will mark its 50th anniversary over which time it has welcomed world leaders and played host to the historic brokering of deals and forging of partnerships. The campaign between UNAIDS and the hotel InterContinental Genève is part of the hotel’s 50-year celebrations and captures the essence of this major milestone by joining efforts to achieve an AIDS-free generation.  

“Building healthier societies begins with children,” said UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador and internationally acclaimed musician Toumani Diabaté who performed at the special launch event. “We can all be part of history by making sure that women living with HIV and their children have access to HIV, prevention, treatment and care services.”