More than 540 people living with HIV in the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, have been able to resume taking antiretroviral therapy owing to a joint project run by UNAIDS and the government of the Republic of Korea.

The recent instability in the country forced many people away from their homes and into camps for internally displaced people, where health services are limited. In addition, many health facilities were destroyed, inaccessible or unstaffed during the crisis. Around a third of people on antiretroviral therapy across the country were unable to continue their treatment.

Social services and community volunteers have located 544 of 1500 people who left treatment programmes in Bangui, enabling them to resume access to the life-saving medication. UNAIDS and the government of the Republic of Korea aim to extend the project to other provinces and to start rebuilding some of the country’s shattered health infrastructure.

A total of 120 000 people were living with HIV in the Central African Republic in 2013, with about 16 500 on antiretroviral therapy.

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The critical role of the business community in Africa’s HIV response was highlighted during a side event held at the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16 March.

The event sought to renew the commitment of the continent’s business leaders to promoting voluntary and confidential HIV testing for workers and ensuring access to HIV treatment, as well as challenging stigma and discrimination.  

It was attended by the chief executives of some of Africa’s largest companies, who heard that business leadership is vital for ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. It was noted that high-quality workplace HIV policies are not only in the best interests of workers and their families but are hugely beneficial to the companies themselves, with such smart investment leading to a healthier, more productive workforce.

The event also saw the launch of a new publication entitled AIDS is everyone’s business, it includes a collection of messages from top business leaders, several from Africa, highlighting the need to challenge AIDS-related discrimination and to close the gap on HIV testing and treatment.

HIV represents a huge burden to Africa, its companies and its workforce. The continent accounts for 71% of the 35 million people living with HIV worldwide, 69% of new HIV infections and 74% of AIDS-related deaths. 

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UNAIDS and partners called for the elimination of forced and coerced sterilization of women and transgender people at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, United Sates of America.

During a side event hosted on 19 March by UNAIDS, the International Community of Women Living with HIV, Global Action for Trans Equality, the Center on Law and Social Transformation and the Action Program for Equality and Social Inclusion, participants discussed strategies and recommendations to fast-track the end of the practice in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. The dialogue brought together civil society activists, CSW delegates, ministers of gender and United Nations representatives.

The practice of forced and coerced sterilization continues to occur in many parts of the world. The participants discussed how it is a form of institutional violence and a human rights violation, which has been shrouded in silence and protected by societal acceptance.

The practice, however, has been garnering international attention in recent years, with increasing commitment to its elimination affirmed in several statements and resolutions. For example, in November 2014 the Namibian Supreme Court ruled in favour of three women living with HIV who had been subjected to coercive sterilization in public hospitals without their informed consent.  

It was also highlighted that the 2014 United Nations interagency statement on eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, to which UNAIDS is a signatory, is also contributing to the global efforts to eliminate this practice by providing guiding principles for prevention and recommendations for legal policy and service delivery.

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During a business trip to Asia, UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador, Victoria Beckham, took the opportunity to raise awareness about the region’s AIDS epidemic. In meetings with business leaders, she urged them to increase private sector involvement in the response to HIV to help end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Victoria Beckham met with people living with HIV during a visit to the UNAIDS country office in Beijing. She heard from the group that despite progress many people still face stigma and discrimination because of their HIV status. She re-affirmed her support for UNAIDS’ campaign to reach zero discrimination against people living with HIV.

During her trip, Victoria was also a guest of honour at a Hong Kong event organized by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), which was also attended by long-standing UNAIDS supporters, Serge Dumont and actress, Michelle Yeoh.

Since her appointment as UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador in 2014, Victoria has used her business and media platforms to raise awareness and funds for the AIDS response.

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More than 15 000 Kenyans, including the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, took part in the second First Lady’s Annual Half Marathon on International Women’s Day, 8 March, raising more than US$ 4 million.

The money raised will be donated to the Beyond Zero campaign, which aims to improve maternal and child health across Kenya. Since the campaign was launched in January 2014, Beyond Zero has made a significant impact by providing fully equipped mobile health clinics that bring essential services closer to vulnerable communities, including people living in informal settlements.

In recent years, Kenya has made notable progress in improving the health of mothers and children. New HIV infections among children declined from 21 000 in 2009 to 13 000 in 2013. An estimated 63% of pregnant women living with HIV accessed treatment services aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in 2013, but only 31% of children living with HIV had access to antiretroviral treatment in the same year. 

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At the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, being held in New York, United States of America, a Kenyan campaign to stop new HIV infections among children has been highlighted as an example of what committed political leadership can achieve in improving women’s access to health care.

The First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Kenyatta, launched her Beyond Zero campaign to improve maternal health and stop children being born with HIV in 2014. Less than a year later, 18 mobile health clinics are now serving some of the country’s most affected communities, with many more planned to open soon.

Ms Kenyatta raised some of the initial funding for the campaign by running in sponsored marathons. She inspired around 30 000 people to join her, propelling the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to the top of the country’s health agenda.

Last month, the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, also pledged the country’s support and leadership for the global All In campaign to end adolescent AIDS, which was launched in Nairobi in March 2015.

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Global health partners met in Geneva to begin the process of building a new approach to better determine health needs and constraints and addressing them in countries.

The new framework, the Equitable Access Initiative, aims to better inform international decision making processes on health and development, particularly where they rely on traditional gross-national-income classification as a measure of where to invest global health resources.

Relying solely on gross national income to determine investment priorities in global health has been increasingly questioned by partners.

Economic growth is lifting many countries from low- to middle-income status, yet those classifications and criteria may be too simple to capture overall needs and capacities.

Countries classified as middle-income are often in need of substantial resources to respond to disease burden, as a steadily larger percentage of those affected by the diseases live in middle-income countries.

Participants in the meeting discussed how the absence of new strategies to ease the transition of countries from low-income to middle-income status has led to a substantial risk of countries not being able to maintain or improve health outcomes. The initial meeting of the Equitable Access initiative was held on 23 February 2015 and co-chaired by Pascal Lamy, the Honorary President of Notre Europe, and Donald Kaberuka, the President of African Development Bank Group. The meeting, hosted by the WHO, was co-convened by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, Malaria; UNAIDS; UNICEF; UNDP; UNFPA; UNITAID; WHO and the World Bank.

The meeting looked at a process of engagement that may culminate in recommendations on how to support countries as they make vital health investments as they transition from low-income to middle-income status.

The Equitable Access Initiative seeks to establish a new way to measure a country's health needs and capacities, aimed towards sustainability, and in addition to propose nuanced health classifications that go beyond traditional economic metrics such as national income levels and are more relevant for better health outcomes. The initiative will be firmly grounded in human rights and will uphold the need for zero discrimination in access to medicines and health services. 

An HIV testing and counselling campaign in Botswana, South Africa and United Republic of Tanzania has set a new Guinness World Record by testing 4367 people over an 8-hour period.

Teams worked across 20 testing sites in Maun District, Botswana, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, and Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa. The campaign, which was intended to increase the number of people aware of their HIV status and, if necessary, refer people to HIV treatment and care services, broke the previous Guinness World Record, which was held by Argentina.

In 2013, there were around 1.1 million new HIV infections in eastern and southern Africa. Although HIV prevalence among young women aged 15–24 in eastern and southern Africa was about 40% lower in 2013 than a decade ago, HIV prevalence remains high among this age group—an estimated 3.7% in 2013—about twice that of young men.

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A joint event organized by UNAIDS and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held during the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York, United States of America, has shined the spotlight on the health, social and legal services available to women and girls in eastern and southern Africa.

Participants attending the session heard Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS Director for the Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, highlight the progress made and challenges ahead in scaling up access to sexuality education and health services for women and girls in the region.

Professor Tlou said many countries had made notable progress in putting young people, particularly young women and girls, at the centre of their national health and development agendas. Adopted in December 2013, the Eastern and Southern Africa Ministerial Commitment brought together ministers of education and health from 20 countries to pledge acceleration of the delivery of sexuality education and sexual reproductive health programmes for young people.  

However, young women and girls in eastern and southern Africa continue to face a higher risk of HIV infection. In 2013, women in eastern and southern Africa accounted for 59% of all adults living with HIV. An estimated 230 000 young women between 15 and 24 years of age were newly infected with HIV in the same year. Violence against women, the high rate of teenage pregnancy, poverty and gender inequalities are some of the reasons that young women and girls are at risk of poor health outcomes, including HIV. 

Participants recommended that specific goals and targets for women and girls be included in the post-2015 agenda, including increasing access to education, ending child and forced marriage, and halting gender-based violence. 

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The progress made in global efforts to improve women’s and children’s health was highlighted at  an Every Woman Every Child event hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General at the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, being held in New York, United States of America.

Vera Brezhneva, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, spoke alongside the United Nations Secretary-General at the event and reminded panel members and the audience that work is still needed to ensure that every child is born free from HIV.

In 2013, an estimated 240 000 children became infected with HIV and more than three in 10 women living with HIV did not receive the necessary antiretroviral treatment to prevent transmitting the virus to their child.

During the debate, Ms Brezhneva highlighted the need to focus on the unmet needs of women, children and adolescent girls, especially among populations most affected by HIV. She also called for the removal of barriers that stopped women accessing essential sexual and reproductive health-care services.

At the event, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, launched his progress report on the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health 2010–2015, highlighting that the world now has a historic opportunity to end preventable maternal, child and adolescent deaths.

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