The end of AIDS has to be at the centre of the post-2015 development agenda to ensure the holistic, socio-economic development of communities around the world.
The end of AIDS has to be at the centre of the post-2015 development agenda to ensure the holistic, socio-economic development of communities around the world.
This week at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), shared thoughts on the post-2015 development agenda and the role of fighting HIV within it.
“About three million voices from around 120 countries have helped in collectively generating thoughts and ideas for what our goals should look like in the post 2015 development landscape,” said Clark.
Ending AIDS
We are already talking about ending the epidemic, a major step on from our previous ambition of reversing the epidemic. We know that significant progress on Millennium Development Goal 6 to halt HIV has been made in the past, but the momentum cannot slow down. There is no room for complacency. The work on HIV must continue and must gain further momentum.
In the end AIDS by 2030 UN target, the focus is on ensuring equitable access for all to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), eliminating all types of discrimination and ensuring gender equity, non-violence and peace.
According to Clark, the UN Secretary General will present a “synthesis report” to the UN general assembly in the context of the HIV epidemic that will highlight 17 key areas for our future work. This will help in setting up HIV-related priorities within the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post 2015. The new post-2015 agenda will be approved at the UN General Assembly in September this year and activists are calling for a commitment to create an HIV free generation globally, with a focus on equity and without discrimination.
HIV and social inequity
UNDP, through its work on the epidemic, is committed to eliminating the social determinants contributing to HIV and to working against punitive laws that have been such a hindrance to date.
The resources scenario is going to be crucially important amid the current global financial crisis. Most agencies are finding it hard to replenish HIV funding, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Countries with lesser spending and impressive outcomes such as Thailand should be looked at as an example. The post-2015 development agenda must look at a comprehensive range of factors and stakeholders from technical and financial resources to the social, political and legal environments.
In his address at AIDS 2014, former US President Bill Clinton applauded how far we have come in the battle against AIDS with nearly 14 million people receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy and support, particularly in resource scarce settings. He acknowledged the huge successes achieved in prevention of mother to child transmission due to the efforts of many organizations including PEPFAR and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
But to protect humanity from the cross-generational and deeply impacting developmental effects of the HIV pandemic now is the time to really pick up the pace. As Clinton warned: “The goal is still far from us with about 3.2 million children still living with HIV and nearly 2 million people infected every year.”
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