The Asia–Pacific Intergovernmental Meeting on HIV and AIDS has opened in Bangkok, Thailand. More than 250 representatives of governments, civil society and international organizations from across the region are assessing progress on the response to the AIDS epidemic and considering challenges for the future.

The Asia–Pacific region has achieved significant results in the HIV response over the past decade. In 2013, there were an estimated 350 000 new HIV infections in the region, a decline of 25% since 2001. Between 2005 and 2013, the number of AIDS-related deaths in the region fell by 27%.

Around 1.56 million people living with HIV in the Asia–Pacific region had access to antiretroviral therapy in 2013, a 25% increase over the previous year. However, this still accounts for only one in three people living with HIV, and many people start treatment late.

One of the most pressing challenges for the region is how to ensure that the AIDS response remains financially sustainable. In 2013, more than US$ 2 billion was mobilized for the region’s response to AIDS, with 43% of the funding supplied by international donors. The participants of the meeting are reviewing the financing of national AIDS programmes, with the aim of increasing national investment.

Participants are also discussing the new 90–90–90 global treatment targets, with civil society representatives calling for more community-based HIV services. Although the epidemic in the region is concentrated among key populations, less than 8% of overall AIDS spending is dedicated to HIV prevention among such populations.

Convened by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in cooperation with UNAIDS, the United Nations Development Programme and other organizations, the meeting runs until 30 January and is expected to see the adoption of a new regional framework to respond to the epidemic.

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A report on the AIDS funding landscape in the Asia–Pacific region, Investing for results: how Asia–Pacific countries can invest for ending AIDS, has been launched at a side event at the Asia–Pacific Intergovernmental Meeting on HIV and AIDS, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 28 to 30 January. The report summarizes an analysis carried out by an independent advisory panel.  

Convened jointly by UNAIDS and the World Bank  and chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, J.V.R. Prasada Rao, the 11-member panel was comprised of public health experts, policy leaders and representatives of civil society organizations.

With many countries in the region graduating to middle-income status, external funding is shrinking and the panel was tasked with resolving the funding gap.

It analysed the existing policy and funding commitments for the national AIDS response in the region and suggested a set of nine concrete recommendations to help guide and sustain the AIDS response in the coming years.

The recommendations included introducing funding transition plans to enable countries to take advantage of continued donor assistance while shifting to greater domestic investment, focusing resources where most new HIV infections occur and protecting funding for civil society.

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The ministers of health and private sector representatives of the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) agreed on 15 January to establish a health trust fund to sustain the response to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Participants at the first-ever formal dialogue between SADC health ministers and the private sector, which was held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, on the sidelines of the Joint Meeting of the SADC Ministers of Health and Ministers Responsible for HIV and AIDS, agreed on a public–private health financing partnership anchored on the following four priorities:

• Establish a regional health trust fund before the World Health Assembly in May 2015.
• Create a public–private working group to meet twice a year on the sidelines of the SADC ministers of health meetings to review and strengthen joint initiatives.
• Develop an information exchange portal to improve knowledge and experience-sharing between the public and private sectors.
• Strengthen employee health programmes in the private sector and introduce health reporting—known as the fourth bottom line strategy—in corporate financial reporting.

Participants appointed Sheila Tlou, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, to lead the establishment of a task team with a mandate that includes creating the public–private trust fund and proposing innovative funding mechanisms.

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Mayors from major cities and urban areas in Côte d’Ivoire have come together to sign the Paris Declaration, pledging their support to accelerate the response to HIV over the next five years.

Thirteen mayors from the Abidjan district and around 20 from other major cities across the country joined UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and the Governor of Abidjan, Beugré Mambé, to sign the Paris Declaration, putting their cities on the Fast-Track to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The Paris Declaration includes commitments to reach ambitious 90–90–90 targets by 2020, which will mean 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status on antiretroviral therapy and 90% of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads.

It is estimated that around 40% of people living with HIV in Côte d’Ivoire live in Abidjan, which has an HIV prevalence of 3.6%, compared with 2.7% nationally.

The Paris Declaration was signed in Paris on World Aids Day 2014 by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and more than 20 of her counterparts from cities around the world. Other mayors are now being invited to join the initiative. 

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Ivorian football player Gervinho, a UNAIDS Ambassador for the Protect the Goal campaign, took the opportunity during a private stay in Gabon to learn about the AIDS epidemic in the country.

UNAIDS Officer in Charge Rodrigue Nze Eyo’o briefed Gervinho on the national epidemic, challenges and successes and the work and role of UNAIDS in the country. Awareness, prevention and testing campaigns are key to reaching youth and the most vulnerable populations. Gervinho’s generous contributions and engagement play a crucial role in reaching a large audience with important HIV prevention messages.

During his fact-finding mission, Gervinho also showed his ball skills on the pitch during an HIV awareness-raising football game organized by the nongovernmental organization Rainbow with the support of the UNAIDS Country Office in Gabon. At the game, Gervinho had the opportunity to speak to young vulnerable people, orphans, out-of-school children and young people living with HIV about the challenges they face in their daily lives.

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During its annual meeting in Abidjan, which was attended by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, members of Côte d’Ivoire’s national AIDS council reiterated their pledge to Fast-Track their response to end the country’s AIDS epidemic.

President Alassane Ouattara, who leads the national AIDS council, told delegates that no one should be left behind and pointed to recent legislation passed by parliament to end stigma and discrimination against people affected by HIV.

During the meeting, President Ouattara also welcomed innovative funding streams originating from taxes on tobacco products and air travel, which have contributed to a national solidarity fund aimed at accelerating the response to the epidemic.

It is estimated that 370 000 people in Côte d’Ivoire are living with HIV, with just one in three currently accessing antiretroviral treatment.

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Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) unanimously adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS at the CIS’s recent Health Council meeting in Minsk, Belarus. The declaration will serve as the foundation to fast-track programmes and activities in response to the AIDS epidemic in the CIS region. 

According to UNAIDS estimates, 1.1 million people were living with HIV in eastern Europe and central Asia in 2013, mostly in the CIS region. While in other parts of the world the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths is declining, they are increasing in the CIS.

CIS member states have agreed to work together and with civil society in order to ensure access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. They will also intensify their efforts to reach key populations at higher risk of HIV infection.

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UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria highlighted their strong partnership to respond to infectious diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis, with a new cooperation agreement to help countries achieve the Fast-Track Targets to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat by 2030.

At the core of the agreement is an improved way of collaborating that strengthens coordination mechanisms, information-sharing at all levels and mutual accountability.

The UNAIDS Fast-Track approach emphasizes the need to focus on the counties, cities and communities most affected by HIV and recommends that resources be concentrated on the areas with the greatest impact. The new agreement will focus on maximizing support to countries and optimizing investments and impact at the country level.

Cooperation areas include strengthening strategic investments, jointly leveraging political commitment and supporting meaningful country dialogues with all stakeholders—including civil society and communities—to ensure that no one is left behind.

The new agreement will leverage the strengths of both organizations in providing technical support to countries and coordination throughout the grant cycle. Special emphasis will be placed on data collection, analysis and identification of gaps in the epidemic and the response, including on countries’ enabling environments, equity in access to services, human rights, gender and key populations at higher risk.

The new cooperation agreement replaces a memorandum of understanding signed in 2008. The agreement will be revisited at the end of 2016. 

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Health ministers from Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have committed to adopting the UNAIDS Fast-Track strategy to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat by 2030.

The decision was announced at a meeting of the ministers of health of the BRICS countries, held in Brasilia, Brazil, from 4 to 5 December. The ministers agreed to endeavour to achieve the 90–90–90 HIV treatment target by 2020, which is to rapidly reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths and to put countries on the Fast-Track to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. They also committed to ambitious tuberculosis (TB) targets and to advance cooperation and action on TB and HIV in the BRICS countries, such as the production of quality assured drugs and diagnostics for TB cases.

In 2013, the BRICS countries accounted for about 30% of new HIV infections worldwide. Estimates are that nearly half of all TB cases, 55% of multidrug resistant TB cases and 38% of all TB/HIV cases occur in the BRICS countries.

The adoption of the Fast-Track strategy by the health ministers demonstrates the renewed political commitment of the BRICS countries to work together to lessen the impact of TB/HIV coinfection. According to UNAIDS, the majority of people living with HIV will live in middle-income countries in the near future. In this regard, the BRICS countries can serve as a reference to provide solutions and exchange experiences with emerging economies.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures called for an increased leadership by the BRICS countries to motivate the global community to implement the 90–90–90 treatment target and also fast-track the response to AIDS.

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The 35th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 9 to 11 December.

During the opening session, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé addressed the Board giving an update of the progress made in the AIDS response as well as outlining the challenges ahead in achieving the Joint Programme’s Fast-Track 90-90-90 treatment targets by 2020.

Mr Sidibé said the response to HIV over the next five years would determine what happened over the next 15 years. “We face a historic opportunity to turn our dream of the end of the AIDS epidemic into reality if we act now,” he said.

The thematic segment of the meeting will take place on Thursday and will focus on people who inject drugs. Participants will examine policy and programmatic actions to halve HIV transmission among people who inject drugs.

The 35th meeting of the UNAIDS Board is being chaired by Australia, with Zimbabwe acting as Vice-Chair and El Salvador as rapporteur.