CAPE TOWN - The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a political declaration to end Aids by 2030.
The UN member states on Tuesday took on a set of new and ambitious targets in a political declaration at the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Aids, taking place in New York.
According to the statement issued on Tuesday, if the international community reaches the targets, 3.6 million new HIV infections and 1.7 million Aids-related deaths will be prevented by 2030.
The political declaration calls on countries to provide 95% of all people at risk of acquiring HIV within all epidemiologically relevant groups, age groups and geographic settings with access to people-centred and effective HIV combination prevention options.
It also calls on countries to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of people who know their status to be on HIV treatment and 95% of people on HIV treatment to be virally suppressed.
“In this Decade of Action, if we are to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all member states must recommit to ending the Aids epidemic by 2030,” said Volkan Bozkir, the president of the UN General Assembly.
“To end Aids, we need to end the intersecting injustices that drive new HIV infections and prevent people from accessing services,” said Amina Mohammed, UN deputy secretary-general.
The political declaration further notes with concern that key populations, gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender people and people in prisons and closed settings are more likely to be exposed to HIV and face violence, stigma, discrimination and laws that restrict their movement or access to services.
Member states also agreed to a target of ensuring that less than 10% of countries have restrictive legal and policy frameworks that lead to the denial or limitation of access to services by 2025.
“I would like to thank member states. They have adopted an ambitious political declaration to get the world back on track to ending the Aids pandemic that has ravaged communities for 40 years,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS executive director.
ANA