JOINT STATEMENT: FOLLOW-UP TO UNAIDS PROGRAMME COORDINATING BOARD MEETING
29 January 2024
Statement by H.E. Mr James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations
Chair,
I am delivering this statement on behalf of Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and my own country, Australia.
Thank you for the update on UNDP and UNFPA contributions to the HIV/AIDS response, and the key issues facing the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
We welcome the significant gains in the global fight against HIV and AIDS as outlined in the report.
We are now seeing the lowest number of new HIV infections in decades, and the global target of 35 million people on HIV treatment by 2025 is well within reach.
However, as the report makes clear, much more must be done if we are to end AIDS as a public health threat and achieve the SDGs by 2030.
In 2022, AIDS claimed one life every minute.
More than nine million people living with HIV were not receiving treatment.
In some regions, girls and women are affected disproportionately. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women accounted for more than 77 per cent of new infections amongst young people.
Progress was particularly stagnant for key populations, including transgender people.
This was due to political, legal, and human rights barriers, and inadequate investment in programming for key populations.
Stigma and discrimination, the denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and social, economic, and gender inequalities, also put key populations at heightened risk of HIV infection.
In this regard, we particularly appreciated the thematic session of the fifty-second meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board (PBC).
This session shone a spotlight on the inequalities that prevented progress for key populations, especially transgender people, in the HIV/AIDS response.
It was followed by a consensus decision at the fifty-third meeting of the PCB, which included specific commitments to transgender people and actions to be taken by Member States.
Chair,
We underscore the report’s call for a whole-of-society approach to “finishing the job on HIV”.
This includes harnessing the collective assets of UNDP and UNFPA to reduce stigma, tackle multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and address the human rights conditions that perpetuate the AIDS epidemic.
Community-led service delivery is critical for reaching people who are not yet accessing services.
Crucially, the Joint Programme’s Secretariat and Co-Sponsors must be appropriately resourced.
They should continue to deliver on their respective mandates on HIV, supported by effective prioritisation and sustainability planning towards a long-term vision for the Programme to 2030 and beyond.
Let me take this opportunity to note the broad spectrum of outputs and the results achieved by UNDP and UNFPA as highlighted in the report.
This was critical work that engaged other UN entities, governments, civil society, and community organisations, and it included:
- HIV testing and anti-retroviral treatment delivery
- the expansion of key-population-led efforts to address discriminatory laws
- support to countries in addressing sexual and gender-based violence
- the provision of technical resources for comprehensive sexuality education, and
- the integration of sexual and reproductive health services
In 2024 we call on UNDP and UNFPA to expand and deepen these partnerships, particularly with affected communities.
We also call on UNDP and UNFPA to continue safeguarding HIV-specialised staff within your organisations, in light of declining HIV financing.
We welcome the MOPAN [Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network] assessment of the UNAIDS Secretariat, as well as the UNDP and UNFPA evaluations on the HIV/AIDS response.
We would like to ask, how will these evaluations be used to strengthen ongoing work and collaboration with the Secretariat, particularly within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and ‘leaving no one behind’?
While the fight against HIV/AIDS is far from over, we have seen significant developments in our lifetimes to combat this epidemic.
These gains reinforce the need for a fit-for-purpose and resilient Joint Programme and a targeted strategy, underpinned by effective coordination to maximise impact.
Together, we must maintain our ambition and efforts if we are to end AIDS by 2030.
Thank you.