UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy – On the Fast-Track to end AIDS [by 2030]
Issue date: 27 October 2015 :: 130 pages
UNAIDS PROGRAMME COORDINATING BOARD
UNAIDS/PCB (37)/15.18.rev1
THIRTY-SEVENTH MEETING
Date: 26 – 28 October 2015
WHO, Geneva
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Executive summary [excerpt]
A defining moment
1. The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy comes at a critical moment in the history of the HIV epidemic and response. Evidence demonstrates that if the current, unprecedented level of HIV service coverage is simply maintained, progress will slip backwards with rising numbers of people newly infected, and more people dying from AIDS-related causes. Nevertheless, we have never had more opportunities to leverage our momentum to accelerate the response over the next five years: a new sustainable development agenda; fresh, innovative solutions; and the rise of regional, national and local leadership and institutions – including strong political commitment to the 90–90–90 treatment target. By seizing this moment, we can end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. The next five years provide a fragile window of opportunity to Fast-Track the AIDS response and empower people to lead dignified and rewarding lives….

[excerpt: “vaccine”]
157. The Joint Programme will expand its work on and advocacy for the continued innovation and refinement of HIV-related medicines and technologies, and ensuring their availability, quality and affordability. These efforts will include mobilizing scientific and ethical consensus on efforts towards a vaccine and AIDS cure. UNAIDS will support countries in adopting and using health-related TRIPS flexibilities and in defending their ability to challenge provisions in trade agreements that impede access to affordable medicines and go beyond the international obligations provided under the TRIPS agreement. UNAIDS will join the effort to explore new incentive systems for needed research and development in which research and development costs are delinked from product prices. UNAIDS will also support efforts to overcome regulatory barriers that delay market entry of quality-assured medicines and health technologies, including by strengthening local and regional regulatory capacities. UNAIDS will work with partners in the Diagnostics Access Initiative to fully leverage the potential of laboratory medicine to accelerate progress towards the 90–90–90 treatment target, with particular attention to viral load testing, early infant and other health products amenable to greater market influence…

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Press Release
UNAIDS Board adopts bold and ambitious strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030
GENEVA, 30 October 2015—At its 37th meeting, the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board adopted a new strategy to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. The UNAIDS 2016–2021 Strategy is one of the first in the United Nations system to be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, which set the framework for global development policy over the next 15 years, including ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

With a universal agenda, firmly grounded in evidence and rights-based approaches, the strategy maps out the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to accelerate the AIDS response over the next five years to reach critical HIV prevention and treatment targets and achieve zero discrimination. Members of the Board from across all regions called the strategy bold, ambitious, yet achievable, and praised the highly inclusive and consultative process to develop it.

In his opening address, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, described the strategy as an urgent call to front-load investment, to close the testing gap, to increase focus and financing for HIV prevention and to protect the health of the 22 million people living with HIV who are not yet accessing treatment. He said that the strategy would be an instrument for social justice and dignity…

…During the dedicated thematic day, the Board discussed the importance of shared responsibility and global solidarity for an effective, equitable and sustainable HIV response. It was agreed that the most critical next step for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will be to have clarity on the means of implementation. Participants emphasized that multisectorality and equitable, transparent and inclusive governance are central bases for effective shared responsibility and global solidarity, and that the AIDS response—and in particular UNAIDS—provides an important model to be replicated for other health, development, gender and rights outcomes…