The First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Kenyatta, and UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures visited a Beyond Zero mobile health clinic in Kibera, an unofficial settlement in Nairobi that is home to more than a million people.

The mobile clinic is one of 18 around the country opened as part of Ms Kenyatta’s Beyond Zero campaign, which aims to boost efforts to eliminate new HIV infections among children and improve maternal survival rates by the end of 2015 among some of Kenya’s most vulnerable communities. Beyond Zero provides comprehensive medical services to residents, complementing care received at other facilities.

The clinic was established with the support of National Youth Service workers and young volunteers from the community itself. Half of Kibera’s residents are under 15 years old and youth unemployment rates are extremely high. Most residents of the settlement earn less than a dollar a day.

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Representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), a forum of 19 confessions and faiths united, met in Kiev, Ukraine, to highlight the urgent needs of people affected by HIV in eastern Ukraine.

With support from UNAIDS, the meeting was attended by senior religious leaders and faith-based organizations from 19 different confessions and religious faiths, as well as people living with HIV, civil society, government officials and other national stakeholders.

In his opening remarks, the Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, called for urgent and coordinated efforts across all faiths to support people affected by HIV during the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Nataliya Nizova, Director of the Ukrainian Center for Socially Dangerous Disease Control of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, presented the latest data on HIV in Ukraine. After a promising trend in the reduction of new HIV infections in 2013, Ukraine reports an alarming renewed increase in HIV infections. In 2014, 18 781 new HIV infections were officially reported, with over 55 700 people receiving antiretroviral therapy and over 8000 people receiving opioid substitution therapy. Ms Nizova also highlighted the urgent risk of treatment interruptions facing 13 500 people living with HIV in the conflict-torn regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

In 2005, AUCCRO developed a common HIV policy for churches and religious organizations and established a partnership dialog with governmental institutions and nongovernmental organizations to advance the AIDS response in Ukraine.

The meeting participants agreed that the military conflict in eastern Ukraine promoted an urgent review of AUCCRO’s AIDS strategy in order to address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and health situation facing people affected by HIV.

The forum adopted a resolution that calls on members and faith-based organizations to consolidate efforts and strengthen partnerships in support of the national AIDS response.

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In the 14th General Assembly of the Organization of Africa First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), held on 31 January on the sidelines of the 24th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African First Ladies reaffirmed their commitment to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The First Ladies also highlighted the importance of paediatric care, strengthening of partnerships and ensuring that AIDS is a strong component in the post-2015 development agenda.

The OAFLA General Assembly was addressed by Yoo (Ban) Soon-taek, who emphasized that women, including young women, adolescent girls, women of child-bearing age, sex workers and transgender women, are a key population in the continental AIDS response and require focused and strategic interventions if we are to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. She also called for a reinvigorated campaign against new infections among children.

Since the establishment of OAFLA in 2002, African First Ladies have advocated for and raised awareness on AIDS, championing many campaigns on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, underlining the burden of HIV on women and strengthening networks of people living with HIV. 

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The 24th Summit of the African Union and related events reaffirmed that Africa is committed and will remain committed to women’s empowerment and to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The Summit took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 to 31 January 2015 under 2015 annual African Union theme of “Women empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

The importance of ending AIDS was particularly articulated during the gender pre-summit meeting, at which the participants noted that member states should ensure that ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is part of Agenda 2063 and that it has an inclusive human rights approach that leaves no one behind, including children, adolescents, women of child-bearing age and women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings.

The participants at the pre-summit meeting also noted that member states should ensure that the sexual and reproductive health and rights of African women are implemented without renegotiation of their content.

The Summit adopted Agenda 2063, the African Union vision of the next 50 years, and endorsed the formation of the African Group of Negotiators on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the single negotiating body acting on behalf of the continent. 

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The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has signed a new antidiscrimination bill into law that protects the rights and dignity of people living with HIV.

The HIV/AIDS Anti-Discrimination Act 2014 makes it illegal to discriminate against people based on their HIV status. It also prohibits any employer, individual or organization from requiring a person to take an HIV test as a precondition for employment or access to services.

It is hoped that the new law will create a more supportive environment, allowing people living with HIV to carry on their lives as normally as possible. More than three million people are living with HIV in Nigeria.

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Luxembourg and UNAIDS have officially launched their partnership to accelerate progress towards the implementation of the 90–90–90 target.

The collaboration between Luxembourg and UNAIDS on the target was announced at the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting held in December 2014. The partnership will entail the organization of high-level thematic consultations to generate political, technical and strategic recommendations to help countries achieve the treatment target. 

The first such consultation will be a technical meeting jointly organized by UNAIDS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Luxembourg, to be held on 10 and 11 February in Geneva, Switzerland. The event aims to generate a clear action agenda to close the HIV testing and treatment gap for key populations at higher risk of HIV infection, such as men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, prisoners, sex workers and transgender people.

Under the 90–90–90 treatment target, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression by 2020. Modelling suggests that achieving this ambitious target will enable the world to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, which in turn will generate profound health and economic benefits.

The recommendations of the series of thematic consultations will be used to help to achieve the 90–90–90 targets and to address the remaining challenges in the global AIDS response, such as inadequate diagnostic services, inefficient deployment of health professionals and the availability of HIV services for key populations and children.

Luxembourg is highly committed to its development cooperation efforts, being one of the few countries to still allocate 1% of its gross national income to official development assistance (ODA). The country focuses on a number of priority sectors in its development work; with over 12% of total ODA, health is the most important. 

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Almost 300 stakeholders involved in the provision of international development assistance in Belarus have taken part in an event in Minsk to review national progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to consider the country’s post-2015 agenda.

The conference, Strengthening Belarus–United Nations Development Cooperation: Results, New Perspectives and Emerging Opportunities, brought together representatives of the government, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, academia and faith-based organizations as well as 24 United Nations agencies and 40 foreign development partners.

Participants heard that, although the goal of reversing the AIDS epidemic by the end of 2015 will not be achieved, there has been significant progress in the country’s AIDS response in recent years. Around 6000 people living with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy in the country. 

Through the close collaboration of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior, civil society organizations and international development partners, Belarus is also pioneering the provision of opioid substitution therapy. Around 20 clinics offering such therapy have been opened since 2007.

One of the greatest challenges for Belarus is to sustain progress in its response to HIV, despite the decrease in international funding. However, the government has said that the AIDS response remains a priority, as reflected in the country’s United Nations Development Action Framework, with the authorities prepared to consider a gradual increase in national funding.

The United Nations and other international development partners also reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Belarus in implementing the post-2015 agenda, including its efforts to advance the end of the AIDS epidemic by 2020.

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The telecommunication company Etisalat Nigeria is partnering with UNAIDS to help disseminate information about the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria.

Under the arrangement, Etisalat Nigeria’s 21 million subscribers will receive regular information through SMS text messaging on how to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and where to seek relevant health-care services.

The two-year initiative will support the efforts of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of AIDS to increase the number of pregnant women seeking prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services in the country.

In 2013, Nigeria accounted for 22% of mother-to-child transmission of HIV cases globally. In November 2014, Nigeria unveiled its national operational plan for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV for 2015–2016, which bolsters efforts to stop new infections among children and keep their mothers alive. The plan will help Nigeria to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2020.

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The World Health Organization reports that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has so far claimed 8800 lives. Almost 500 of the dead were health-care workers. However, the worst is over—fewer than 100 new cases were reported in the week up to 25 January and the international response is now moving from slowing transmission to ending the epidemic.

As the number of new Ebola infections continues to fall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, survivors are organizing themselves in associations and groups to facilitate their reintegration and rehabilitation in the community.

Estimates put the number of survivors at between 5000 and 10 000. According to their accounts, survivors are experiencing various forms of stigma from extended family and the wider community. Livelihoods and earning potential have been adversely affected. In the case of children and adolescents, stigma has prevented or inhibited family reunification or placement.

The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) held a meeting from 29 to 30 January in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss how the United Nations can integrate a new survivor component into its work and coordinate interagency efforts to ensure that no survivors are left behind. The meeting brought together Ebola survivors from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone and about 50 representatives from the United Nations, including UNAIDS.

It was proposed that support for survivors would extend beyond distributing benefit packages upon leaving a health-care facility and would last for a longer period of time. Initial support might include blankets, cash and food, but mental health and psychosocial support for survivors and their family members could be part of a more comprehensive package.

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UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have issued a report—Considerations and guidance for countries adopting national health identifiers—offering guidance on how to improve service delivery through the adoption of national health identifiers (NHIDs).

NHIDs ensure that each patient has a unique identity within the health system. Treatment information across services can therefore be tracked at the individual level, ensuring that detailed personal medical records can be kept, which becomes increasingly important as greater numbers of people access health care.

Individual data can be collated to provide a bigger picture, facilitating the monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of health services at the local, regional and national levels. In turn, this should enable more informed policy-making and a better integration of services. 

The report provides a comprehensive guide to NHIDs, including sections on the roles and responsibilities of different actors during implementation, confidentiality, security and privacy concerns and considerations for estimating the resources needed to implement and maintain NHIDs.

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