A new UNAIDS report shows the critical role of communities and how underfunding and harmful barriers are hindering their life-saving work and preventing AIDS from ending.
        London/Geneva, 28 November 2023 – As World AIDS Day (1 December) approaches, UNAIDS is calling on governments around the world to unleash the power of grassroots communities around the world and lead the fight to end AIDS. AIDS can be eliminated as a public health threat by 2030, but only if frontline communities get the full support they need from governments and donors, according to a new report released today by UNAIDS, Letting Communities Lead.
        “Communities around the world have shown that they are ready, willing and able to lead. But they need to remove the barriers that hinder their work and they need access to the right resources,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. Winnie Byanyima) said. “Policymakers often view communities as a problem to be managed rather than recognizing and supporting them as leaders. Instead of getting in the way, communities are lighting the way to ending AIDS.”
       The report, launched in London during World AIDS Day by civil society organization Stop AIDS, shows how communities can be a force for progress.
        Advocacy of public interests on the streets, in the courts and in parliament ensures revolutionary changes in politics. Community action has helped open up access to generic HIV medications, leading to significant and sustained reductions in the cost of treatment, from US$25,000 per person per year in 1995 to less than US$70 today in many of the countries most affected by HIV.
        Empowering communities to lead shows that investing in community-led HIV programs can have transformative benefits. It explains how programs implemented by community organizations in Nigeria were associated with a 64% increase in access to HIV treatment, double the likelihood of using HIV prevention services, and a fourfold increase in consistent condom use. Risk of HIV infection. The report also noted that in the United Republic of Tanzania, HIV incidence among sex workers accessed through the peer package fell by less than half (5% versus 10.4%).
        “We are agents of change to end the systemic injustices that continue to drive the spread of HIV. “We have seen breakthrough progress on U=U, improved access to medicines and progress in decriminalization. ” says Robbie Lawlor, co-founder of Access to Medicines Ireland. “We should be fighting for a fairer world and we are tasked with eradicating stigma, but we are left out of key discussions. We are at a turning point. Communities can no longer be marginalized. Now is the time to lead.”
        The report highlights that communities are at the forefront of innovation. In Windhoek, Namibia, a self-funded youth empowerment group project uses e-bikes to deliver HIV medications, food and medication adherence support to young people who are often unable to attend clinics due to school commitments. In China, community groups have developed smartphone apps to allow people to self-test, helping to more than quadruple HIV testing in the country from 2009 to 2020.
        The report shows how communities are holding service providers accountable. In South Africa, five community networks of people living with HIV surveyed 400 sites in 29 districts and conducted more than 33,000 interviews with people living with HIV. In the Free State province, these results prompted provincial health officials to implement new intake protocols to reduce clinic wait times and three- and six-month dispensing times for antiretroviral drugs.
        “I am very concerned that key groups such as LGBT+ people are being excluded from health services,” said Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for Development and Africa. “The UK stands up for the rights of these communities and we will continue to work closely with civil society partners to protect them. I thank UNAIDS for our continued focus on the inequalities that are driving this epidemic, and I look forward to working with our partners. Work together to champion the voices of people living with HIV and eliminate AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”
        Despite clear evidence of community-led impact, community-led responses remain unrecognized, underfunded, and in some places even attacked. Suppression of the human rights of civil society and marginalized communities makes it difficult to provide HIV prevention and treatment services at the community level. Insufficient funding for public initiatives makes it difficult for them to continue their activities and prevents their expansion. If these barriers are removed, community organizations can generate greater momentum in the fight against AIDS.
        In the 2021 Political Declaration to End AIDS, UN Member States recognized the critical role that communities play in delivering HIV services, especially for people at high risk of HIV infection. However, in 2012, more than 31% of HIV funding was channeled through civil society organizations, and ten years later, in 2021, only 20% of HIV funding is available – an unprecedented failure in the commitments that have been made and will continue to be paid. the price of life.
        “Community-led action is currently the most important response to HIV,” said Solange-Baptiste, executive director of the International Treatment Preparedness Alliance. “However, shockingly, it does not improve pandemic preparedness and is not a cornerstone of global plans ” said Solange-Baptiste, executive director of the International Treatment Preparedness Alliance. agendas, strategies or mechanisms for financing health for all. It’s time to change that.”
        Every minute someone dies of AIDS. Every week, 4,000 girls and young women become infected with HIV, and of the 39 million people living with HIV, 9.2 million do not have access to life-saving treatment. There is a path to ending AIDS, and AIDS can end by 2030, but only if communities take the lead.
        UNAIDS calls for: community leadership to be at the heart of all HIV plans and programmes; community leadership must be fully and securely funded; and barriers to community leadership must be removed.
       The report features nine guest articles by community leaders as they share their accomplishments, the obstacles they face, and what the world needs to do to eliminate HIV as a public health threat.
        The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world towards a shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS brings together 11 organizations of the United Nations system – UNHCR, UNICEF, World Food Programme, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations Women, International Labor Organization, United Nations, UNESCO, the World Health Organization and the World Bank – and work closely with global and national partners to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Visit unaids.org to learn more and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.