The 47th UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) meeting, held online between 15-18 December 2020 was the second virtual PCB meeting to be ever held due to the COVID-19 crisis. Chaired by the US, the virtual meeting was held on the zoom platform with interpretation available in the six official UN languages. As with the previous online meeting for the 46th PCB, the 47th PCB meeting was reduced to 3 x 3.5 hour days, with an additional day for the Thematic Segment. It was preceded by themed pre-meetings between November 18 to December 9, with an additional day to consult and discuss all decision points on the 10th of December, as well as virtual drafting rooms held on the 15th and 16th.
NGO Report
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NGO Report of the 47th PCB Meeting | 16 November 2020
Engagement, Evidence and Impact: 25 years of the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB
This 2020 NGO Report marks the 25th anniversary of the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB. It takes stock of the engagement, evidence, and impact of the Delegation to date, highlighting examples of key actions and results. It also makes recommendations for the future, in a context where responses to HIV by key populations, for people living with HIV,
women, young people, and migrants (referred to in this report as “communities and civil society”) are more vital than ever. The report notes with deep concern that the political space, human rights, financial viability, and the very existence of those organizations and networks are under threat.
PCB Summary Bulletin
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47th PCB Meeting | 14 January 2021
NGO Delegation’s Summary Bulletin
The Communique contains the following sections: Report of the Executive Director; Report by the NGO Representative; Annual Progress Report on HIV Prevention 2020; Evaluation; UNAIDS Strategy beyond 2021; Statement by the Representative of the UNAIDS Staff Association; COVID-19 and HIV; Report of the PCB Working Group on the Joint Inspection Unit Management and Administration Review ofContinue reading “UNAIDS PCB Meeting”
Agenda items
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Agenda Item 1.3 | 47th PCB Meeting
Report of the Executive Director
NGO Delegate representing Africa
Intervention delivered by Lucy Wanjiku Njenga
The NGO Delegation welcomes the report of the Executive Director and commends her for the work done in her first year of office in the middle of a Global Pandemic and the entire UNAIDS team. Creating a new culture takes effort, hard choices and willingness from the team to drive the change that is so much needed in UNAIDS and in the world for the HIV response. We also applaud all the work that has been done towards the new Global AIDS strategy that will be a people centred, rights-based and community-led approach strategy that was informed by a great number of communities.
As the reports articulates in great detail, people living with HIV in all our diversities across the world have had a terrible year. COVID has not only exposed inequities in global health, but has worsened them enormously. Despite impending vaccines, most of us remain in a nightmare of intersectoral vulnerabilities, and we see very little immediate light at the end of the tunnel. Our missing Delegate today, Wangari Tharao, is in hospital battling COVID-19 at the moment. We wish you a quick recovery Wangari for you and your loved ones.
Truly, COVID-19 has to be the wake-up call that we do not repeat so many of the mistakes that have led us here. In Africa, and much else of the globe, this pandemic has affected our countries, and especially their health systems, further failing communities, and even more so failing adolescent girls and young women. The HIV response has to learn from the COVID response. As we hear of vaccines we eagerly wait and hope to not be left behind and we would appreciate to hear tangible solutions proposed during this PCB that will tackle the scourge of putting profits before lives. It is paramount to hear the mechanisms being put in place in countries not just to beat back this epidemic, but to prepare for future, as yet unknown epidemics. Right now people are more than ever looking up to leaders to give hope, to motivate and inspire change that we want to see, but also to deliver working solutions.
Communities’ resilience has been key in the gains that have been made thus far in the global response. What we need now is commitment and the political will to implement solutions we know work. Now more than ever we have to prioritise communities’ engagement and involvement to drive and inform our agenda as we head towards achieving the targets set of zero AIDS related deaths, zero new HIV infections and zero HIV and COVID related stigma and discrimination.
Thank you.
1.4
Agenda Item 1.4 | 47th PCB Meeting
Report by the NGO Representative
NGO Delegate representing Latin America and The Caribbean
Intervention delivered by Violeta Ross
The NGO Delegation reaffirms its deep respect and pride for this report. The report is about civil society participation in the UNAIDS PCB, but that participation in this body, which is a symbol of the work of the communities and civil society in the HIV response in all these years responding to the AIDS epidemic.
We thank Member States, which supported our meaningful participation, and continued to believe in our role by providing all the necessary means, both financially and politically, making our participation possible, and supporting our impact.
We remain fully committed to advocate for justice, equity, and access for all – with no one left behind – to HIV prevention, treatment and care services. We will continue to respond to HIV using global leading mechanisms like the UNAIDS Program Coordinating Board, as we continue to work with all relevant communities globally, regionally, as well as at country levels.
Our participation in the UNAIDS PCB has certainly set a successful precedent, which we hope will be taken up by others working on global health, and in the UN system, in support of an open and transparent United Nations governance which the world needs now. Lastly, we would like to express our thanks to our NGO Report consultant and colleague, Sarah Middleton Lee, who has given longstanding and steadfast support to the PCB NGO Delegation and other community and civil society colleagues in our work.
NGO Delegate representing Asia and The Pacific
Presentation delivered by Aditia Taslim Lim
Good afternoon, colleagues.
My name is Aditia and, among the many things that make up my identity and my life, I have been a proud member of the NGO Delegation for the past three years. This year, our annual report to the PCB is entitled ‘Engagement, Evidence and Impact’ and is about 25 Years of the NGO Delegation to the PCB. The report is informed by a survey among our constituents and interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, sharing their perspectives on our two and a half decades’ of work. It is also informed by an extensive desk review, including of the formal minutes and Delegation communiqués from the 1st PCB meeting to date.
Before continuing, I would like to share that this report is dedicated to everyone – those still with us and those who have passed on – who has served on or supported the NGO Delegation, from the first meeting of the UNAIDS PCB to the present day. You are remembered and your contribution is acknowledged and deeply appreciated.
Back in 1995, when UNAIDS was established, the new Programme included a NGO Delegation in its governance structure – an unprecedented move within the UN system. Our Delegation has five members and five alternates from Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and North America. To date, we have had a total of 108 Delegates from 85 organizations from across the world. The majority are people living with HIV and members of other key populations.
The 2020 NGO Report focuses on six key areas where the NGO Delegation has made a significant or catalytic contribution to the PCB,in collaboration with other PCB members, NGO Observers and wider civil society. I will discuss the six areas of contribution briefly, giving a snapshot – while more details are provided in the full report. I will also share some conclusions.
The first key contribution is that the NGO Delegation brings the face of HIV to the PCB and persistently advocates for the priority issues of communities and civil society. A fundamental role of the Delegation is to bring the lived-experience of HIV to the highly political deliberations of the PCB. Without such a presence, there is a risk of Board discussions becoming overly administrative or theoretical, without a sound understanding of its practical implications. Over 25 years, the NGO Delegation has been represented by, among others, people who are: living with HIV; sex workers; people who use drugs; gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men; people with transgender experience; young people; women; indigenous people and people with experience in specific areas, such as migration, people in closed-settings, and SRHR. At all times, the majority of the members have been people living with HIV and other key populations. Each representative has brought their personal and professional experiences, as well as the issues and challenges of their respective constituencies. Examples of key issues that have been championed by the NGO Delegation include the Meaningful engagement of communities and civil society in the response to HIV, and the Importance of addressing the social enablers that, for communities and civil society, ‘make or break’ effective responses to HIV. Examples include gender equity, stigma and discrimination, and human rights violations.
The second key contribution is that the NGO Delegation brings evidence, profile and passion to neglected and contentious issues for the PCB. The Delegation has frequently raised subjects, which are important for communities and civil society, but which may be overlooked or regarded as sensitive. An example is HIV prevention – an issue that requires nuanced understanding of people’s lives, risks and social and sexual behaviours. A further example is key populations, such as with NGO Delegation pushing for supportive and rights-based PCB Decision Points and UNAIDS policies for sex workers and people who use drugs. The NGO Delegation has also highlighted issues that cut across communities. Examples include the “equity deficit”. Such work has been backed-up by the Delegation catalyzing ground-breaking debates and negotiations on intellectual property rights, leading to concrete decision points.
The third key contribution is that the NGO Delegation brings a regional perspective to the PCB – profiling priority issues for specific geographic areas and sociopolitical contexts, reinforcing the importance of “knowing your epidemic” and highlighting issues that might be neglected at the global level.The Delegation has highlighted fragile and emergency situations in individual countries, such as human rights abuses against people who use drugs in the Philippines and the ongoing public health crisis in Venezuela. In addition, the Delegation has drawn attention to issues that are of concern in specific regions, such as migration (e.g. a priority for Asia-Pacific); harm reduction for people who use drugs (e.g. a priority for Eastern Europe and Central Asia); HIV prevention for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (e.g. a priority for the Middle East and North Africa); and SRHR for adolescent girls and young women (e.g. a priority for Eastern and Southern Africa).
The fourth area of contribution is supporting the PCB to connect the response to HIV to wider issues and processes. Here, the NGO Delegation has played a key role in moving the narrative and global response to HIV forward, by questioning “business as usual” approaches and strategizing around next steps.
Over the past 25 years, the NGO Delegation’s work has included:
- Supporting the PCB and UNAIDS to conceptualize different frameworks for the global response, from universal access to the ‘Three Ones’ and Strategic Investment Framework.
- Promoting the UN General Assembly High-Level Meetings on AIDS and resulting Political Declarations, advocating for their commitments to be inclusive and ambitious.
- Supporting the PCB’s positioning of HIV in the 2030 Agenda, including in relation to Universal Health Coverage.
In 2020, the NGO Delegation is also supporting UNAIDS’ action on COVID-19 – urging that communities’ lessons and models from action on HIV are used in responses.
The fifth key area of contribution is to the effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of UNAIDS governance. Here, the NGO Delegation has been an engaged and committed member of the PCB that is willing to push boundaries in the interests of their constituencies to hold the Joint Programme and Member States accountable.
Examples of our work in this area include supporting:
- The work of the PCB Bureau
- The development of the UBRAF – such as calling for: more attention to issues like human rights and gender equality; more explicit reporting on resourcing and engagement of civil society; more refinement of indicators for meaningful engagement; and more transparency on the funding of civil society.
- UNAIDS reviews, evaluations and strategy development.
- Action on challenging aspects of UNAIDS governance .
The NGO Delegation has shown that it is willing to be transparent, and to learn from its own strengths and weaknesses. This includes that it has undergone two comprehensive and independent evaluations.
The sixth and final area of contribution is influencing the governance of other global health institutions and fostering partnerships with them. The inclusion of an NGO Delegation in the UNAIDS PCB has influenced the governance, decision-making and partnership structures of other global health institutions and initiatives. The Global Fund is an example, alongside the Boards of UNITAID and GAVI, as well as the civil society engagement mechanisms for the UHC 2030 partnership and the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well Being for All.
In conclusion, the NGO Delegation has brought 25 years of engagement, evidence and impact to the UNAIDS PCB. The Board can be proud of that history. The NGO Delegation has brought multiple, concrete results. Many discussions would not have been held and many Decision Points would not have materialized (in the same way or perhaps even at all) without the Delegation’s resolve and work. The NGO Delegation has brought communities and civil society issues such as human rights, gender equity and meaningful engagement to the heart of the PCB’s deliberations. That work has also extended beyond the issues directly affecting constituents and has helped ensure that UNAIDS is a well-governed, principle-based and accountable Joint Programme within the UN.
It is critical to note that the stability and quality of the NGO Delegation’s work has been significantly enhanced by its Communication and Consultation Facility. This entity has multiple important roles and responsibilities, including providing high-quality organizational systems and processes, as well as strong communications and institutional memory. It can also facilitate essential opportunities for members of the Delegation, to meet and strategize in-person beyond the biannual PCB meetings. However, we must also acknowledge that these important strategizing meetings are structurally underfunded and should be incorporated into the standard funding package for the support of the NGO Delegation. These invaluable capacities and assets enable the members of the Delegation (who are situated across the world and who work in a voluntary capacity) to function professionally and efficiently, with a united voice.
In 2020, the environment for the response to HIV is more complex than ever. There are ongoing challenges, such as reduced funding, punitive legal environments and shrinking space for civil society. They are compounded by evolving global crises (such as COVID-19) and are influenced by vital global movements (such as on Black Lives Matter and climate change). This highlights that the work of the NGO Delegation is far from done. As attention to HIV waivers, the voices of communities and civil society are needed more than ever – to keep HIV on the agenda, hold decision-makers to account and advocate for the needs of real people and real communities.
Going forward, as UNAIDS moves forwards with its next Strategy, the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB remains essential. It has more than proven its worth, value and impact. It must be protected, resourced and enabled to flourish in the future.
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Agenda Item 3 | 47th PCB Meeting
Annual progress report on HIV Prevention 2020
NGO Delegate representing Asia and The Pacific
Intervention delivered by Aditia Taslim Lim
We note UNAIDS leadership has called for the need to instill a new strategy for prevention and a quarter of resources allocated for prevention was introduced. The need to push for an acceleration framework to fast-track prevention was addressed. The call to not drop the ball on prevention, and the importance of prevention to be community-led, not commodity-led. The hope is that the prevention coalition has brought prevention back on the agenda. Yet, HIV prevention is so off-track, and we are seeing in other areas that new infections are rising.
These are the statements and calls from the UNAIDS Executive Director at every PCB between 2015 and 2019.
2.1 million in 2010, 1.7 million in 2019, a 23% reduction of new HIV infections, however, it is still very much alarming. Despite ongoing and repeated calls for urgency, we have only made just over 1% reduction from the previous decade (22.73% between 2000 and 2009). The high level political declaration made in 2016 to make even further reduction came as a promising hope. However, we are saddened to see a stagnant reduction of only 5% every two years following the global declaration.
We acknowledge the work of the GPC in bringing together country leaders in recommitting to prevention and it is shown by the country scorecards on the progress that country is making in their 10 point of action prevention roadmap. However we fear that these scorecards are no more than a checklist exercise, which again the NGO delegation has always highlighted at the PCB, it does not tell the real story. Take a look at Indonesia for example, no condoms no needles, yet the scorecard tells a different data. In fact, these two important elements are being taken out from the global fund indicators in 2021.
Similarly discordant data and realities in Southern Africa – the global epicentre of new infections – where condom programming has not yet recovered from its virtual collapse over the last few years.
These are both examples of how prevention is among the first to be compromised, be it when funding is redirected to other priorities such as COVID-19, or when donors have transitioned out. In this new strategy and coming UBRAF, we must spend more on primary prevention. We must monitor and evaluate its success more. And we must rededicate political leadership to achieving more than a 1% decrease over the next decade.
As UNAIDS is renewing its strategy followed by a new political declaration, we urgently need to see actions, not statements on paper.
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Agenda Item 7 | 47th PCB Meeting
Evaluation
NGO Delegate representing North America
Intervention delivered by Andrew Spieldenner
Thank you, Chair. I speak on behalf of the NGO Delegation.
We thank the Independent Evaluation Unit for its report. Evaluation is a responsible action for an organization and demonstrates accountability to constituents and partners. UNAIDS constituents include people living with HIV, gay and bisexual men, people of transgender experience, sex workers, people who use drugs, women, and adolescents and young people. Our constituents deserve the best possible Joint Programme. As a person living with HIV and a member of a key population group, I know: you will not end the HIV epidemic without us. Our needs and challenges should be central to every part of the Joint Programme.
Instead of an occasional focus, the Evaluation Report could consistently report on how the Joint Programme impacts key populations who comprise a disproportionate burden of new HIV diagnoses globally. In addition, while the Meaningful Involvement of People with HIV/AIDS (MIPA) has been a core value to the HIV response, there is little attention to MIPA in the Evaluation Report. Without knowing why the HIV response does not address key populations effectively, we cannot know how to improve it. By not addressing this regularly, it is almost as if the Joint Programme accepts this as an unfortunate but inalterable fact of the lives of key populations and vulnerable groups.
Finally, we are glad to see the management response to the Independent Evaluation Report with a higher level of clarity than in the pre-meeting. We want to see a Joint Programme that recognizes and focuses on unmet needs in the HIV response. We are cautious about the management response when so much is put on the UBRAF and the UBRAF continues to be a large and unwieldy process. Some of the responses still seem rhetorical – especially when specific steps around resourcing and staffing are asked for. As my NGO colleague from Asia Pacific reminded us in the HIV prevention report: “we urgently need to see actions not just statements on paper.”
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Agenda Item 8 | 47th PCB Meeting
UNAIDS Strategy beyond 2021
NGO Delegate representing Africa
Intervention delivered by Jonathan Gunthorp
Chair, behind the dry phrase, “a majority of countries will fail to reach the …. Targets ..” lies a grim reality for millions left behind in our communities on every continent – a reality that this strategy must change.
We celebrate the open engagement of the strategy process, including, the Strategy Team and other staff’s support to community participation. We welcome the renewed focus on primary prevention, on key populations including women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa; on inequality, on structural drivers, on people-centeredness, and on COVID and its long impact. In particular, we welcome the new result area on community that recognizes once again the critical role of communities to success in the global response, and the renewed commitment to 30% of service delivery being community-led, and 6% of HIV resources for social enabling.
We recognize, however, that strategy success is not only about what is on paper. Successes and failures are dependant also on more skilful UBRAFS, on diligent implementation, on proper monitoring and accountability, and on brave political leadership.
We recognize that if this strategy is to be truly people-centred in practice, it will have to overcome a number of illusions – perhaps delusions.
We will have to overcome the delusion that in a world where, in southern Africa, AIDS remains the leading killer of teenagers, we can protect young people from HIV without their full sexual and reproductive health and rights being met, and without strong action on structural drivers. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
We will have to overcome the delusion that you can tell people who they can and cannot be, and still claim to support their health; and that stigma, discrimination, criminalization, and persecution do not impact centrally on health seeking behaviour and on health. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
And we will have to overcome the delusion that health rights can be achieved without human rights, and that human rights can be achieved without the universal right to health, and that these can somehow be held to be separate. Despite all the evidence to the contrary.
In conclusion, Chair, words matter. What we put into the strategy on paper is essential. But it is only a precursor to a renewed global response and a renewed global sense of urgency. The PCB NGO Delegation looks forward to the adoption of the new strategy in March 2021. Not so much for what will be on paper, but more for the delivery for our communities.
I thank you.
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Agenda Item 9 | 47th PCB Meeting
Statement by the Representative of the UNAIDS Staff Association
NGO Delegate representing North America
Intervention delivered by Andrew Spieldenner
Thank you, Chair. I speak on behalf of the NGO Delegation.
An organization is made up of many things: its aspirations; its vision; its strategy; its resources, and more. But above all it is made up of its people. The success or otherwise of the Joint Programme, depends as much on its people, its staff, as on any other factor.
The NGO Delegation is very concerned. UNAIDS, as we all know too well, is coming from an uncomfortable space where a climate conducive to best staff contribution to the work on UNAIDS and the contribution to the global response was not in place. We have gone through much to attempt to rectify this.
Yet after a year of receiving promises of major structural changes in UNAIDS, especially in the relationships between senior management and staff, those changes have not happened to the extent expected, and to the extent needed.
As PCB members, we take this report by the USSA with respect and with high levels of commitment that the Joint Programme’s staff deserve. USSA, in our view, represents UNAIDS staff, and its reports are bellwethers of the mood, the motivation, the thinking and the fears of significant numbers of staff members.
Chair, a conducive environment is taking too long to be achieved. Indeed, not all staff, and perhaps not even all senior managers appear to believe in zero tolerance. Zero tolerance and a conducive environment are non-negotiable. The achievements that have been made in the last year must be building blocks for swifter change.
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Agenda Item 10 | 47th PCB Meeting
COVID-19 & HIV
NGO Delegate representing Europe
Intervention delivered by Dr. Karen Badalyan
Dear Chair, colleagues,
I speak on behalf of the NGO Delegation.
The PCB NGO Delegation acknowledges the efforts of UNAIDS and national health systems in front of the COVID-19 response. We applaud many International, National organisations and donors, who rapidly expanded their support to address the most urgent needs of communities in the COVID-19 context. We equally commend an unprecedented commitment of civil society organisations and community groups, who continue their life-meaning work with Key populations despite the lockdown and disease risks. Nevertheless, the current measures are not enough and in relation to Key populations we have seen a regression in many cases resulting in devastating impacts on hard earned, essential responses to HIV.
The rapid spread of this disease followed by unprecedented response efforts dramatically changed healthcare and socio-economic landscape in many countries.Economic drop down, overwork of health systems, reduced social activity, military enforcement of public health measures affected the lives, health and rights of millions of Key Populations globally. Key Populations, who are traditionally more exposed to social deprivation, discrimination, harassment and health risks in many countries, faced particular vulnerabilities in this new context.
The COVID-19 pandemic entailed distortion of national health systems, which had to mobilise all their resources apparently at the expense of other life-meaning spheres. The NGO Delegation has received many signals of shortages of HIV medication worldwide. In Malta, for instance, people living with HIV are redistributing HIV medications amongst themselves because pharmacies no longer have them in stock. Key Populations appeared to be out of critical interventions, including, but not limited to, sexual and reproductive health care, endocrinology and gender surgery, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and STI prevention, treatment and care and particularly delays and stock outs of ARV therapy.
Thus, the PCB NGO Delegation calls on the urgent action of
- UNAIDS JOINT PROGRAMME and DONORS: to ensure the highest flexibility to expand, reprogramme or start new initiatives aimed at the Key Populations, not only within the already approved programmes and strategies, but as new actions addressing the specific needs of Key populations that have emerged in the current context of COVID-19;
- MEMBER STATES: to accelerate support and resourcing for community-based and peer support for the Key populations and to strengthen civic mechanisms to monitor access to critical HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and human rights protection.
Thank you!
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Agenda Item 11 | 47th PCB Meeting
Report of the PCB Working Group on the Joint Inspection Unit Management and Administration Review of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
NGO Delegate representing Asia and The Pacific
Intervention delivered by Jules Kim
This statement is delivered on behalf of the NGO Delegation and in support of the statements by Frontline AIDS, AIDS Action Europe, Aidsfonds and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and in support of the revised guiding principles and the recommended amendments to DP 13.7 calling on the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS speak with one voice, respecting its guiding principles, and acting to protect, respect and fulfil the human rights of all.
Today is International Day to End Violence against sex workers. It is a day where we commemorate the lives of sex workers lost to violence. There is not a sex worker in the world who’s life has not been touched by violence. And this has been heightened during the COVID pandemic
Today sex workers globally stand collectively to remember
- the violence perpetrated against ourselves and our friends, families and children just because of our occupation
- the systemic barriers that prevent us from accessing essential HIV prevention services, testing, treatment, support and care
Today we remember other sex workers no longer with us and we stop the silencing of us by the systems that take advantage of the stigma and discrimination that invisibilises us and ignores our agency, voices and lived realities.
It is a day when we affirm that sex work is work and recognise that we are a community disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic. This cannot and will not change without the end to the state sanctioned violence against us through the criminalisation of our work. Evidence definitively supports that decriminalisation of sex work will and does reduce HIV rates and risk and is the single intervention that would have the greatest effect on the course of HIV epidemics across all settings for all sex workers regardless of how we ended up in sex work.
So today on International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers we call for the recognition of sex worker rights as an essential step in ending gender-based violence, a key driver of HIV among women and key populations. We demand that the violence against us enacted by the discriminatory laws and policies against us ends and we call on the UNAIDS Joint Programme including its cosponsors not act to perpetuate this violence against us.
NGO Delegate representing Europe
Intervention delivered by Alexander Pastoors
Thank you chair,
The NGO Delegation welcomes the outcome of the Working Group and appreciates the work done to implement both formal and informal recommendations of the JIU. The Joint Program and the UNAIDS secretariat have taken big steps in changing the organization in the direction of the UNAIDS we need as communities of people living with and affected by HIV.
The NGO Delegation supports the Decision Points and welcomes the clarification of the oversight role of the PCB via an annex to the modus operandi. It’s an indispensable step to restoring the faith of donors in the joint program and therefore, it secures the future of an indispensable organization to support governments, civil society, and communities in the fight to end AIDS.
Looking at the status report of the implementation of the JIU recommendations it is clear that in some aspects great steps forward have been taken, yet when it comes to the program of change for UNAIDS, given the statement of the USSA, further steps have to be taken.
The delegation appreciates the revamped Guiding Principles of the Cosponsors but is mindful of the observed divergence between official statements by Cosponsors and the HIV policies that supported by the dedicated staff of Cosponsors of the Joint Program. It’s a sign that what the PCB agrees upon does not always reach the boards of the Cosponsors and this needs to change. In short, the proof of the pudding, dear colleagues of the PCB, is in the eating.
The NGO Delegation is looking forward to the full implementation of the Decision Points on this matter.
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Agenda Item 15 | 47th PCB Meeting
Thematic Segment: Cervical cancer and HIV- addressing linkages and common inequalities to save women’s lives
NGO Delegate representing Africa
Intervention delivered by Iwatutu Joyce Adewole
I speak on my own behalf as a Nigerian young woman and as an incoming PCB NGO Africa Delegate.‘’
I want to speak of a silent killer on my continent. And of global solidarity and shared responsibility. I want to speak of cervical cancer.
Chair, 85% of women with cervical cancer and HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. 85%! That’s almost half a million new cases in the region every 12 months. Not a total of women living with and dying of cervical cancer, but of new cases.
The HPV vaccine in my region costs about a hundred dollars. Let’s remember the financial gap women face and the many who live below one dollar a day. In the global north, over 90% of girls who need the HPV vaccine are receiving it. In my region over 90% of girls who need it are not receiving it. Let’s talk about inequality.
Madam Executive Director, we need not only one People’s vaccine for COVID, but another for universal access of all girls to HPV. Let’s talk about global solidarity.
Women living with HIV grapple with multiple vulnerabilities, including cervical cancer. Treatment is unaffordable for them, transport is unaffordable, machines in health facilities don’t work.
Yet, despite all these inequities, we have eliminated other conditions such as polio. We want the same efforts to be put into HPV. We need to strive to eliminate HPV and cervical cancer. I ask that the Joint Programme shares the responsibility to create new ways of meeting our health needs even if this means working with new partners and thinking more broadly in the HIV response to achieve this.
NGO Delegate representing Asia and The Pacific
Intervention delivered by Jules Kim
I deliver this intervention on behalf of the NGO Delegation.
Cervical cancer is entirely preventable and as we have heard entirely possible to eliminate. With the availability of vaccines and routine screening, there is no need for any individual with a cervix, regardless of their gender or sexuality, including women, girls, trans*, non-binary and intersex people to be affected by or die from cervical cancer. And the concerning reality is that women living with HIV are more susceptible to developing cervical cancer.
Yet the continuing resistance to implementing inclusive and integrated systems of prevention, treatment, knowledge and care around sexual reproductive health and rights and the underlying inequities in our health systems and cultures against women and key populations, create unnecessary barriers to women’s health. This must change.
We can eliminate cervical cancer- but to do so we must stop denying the autonomy of all women and girls and key populations over their own bodies and sexual health. We must stop the delusion that women and girls do not have to informed about sex and sexual health and rights. We must fund the integration of essential care and combination prevention services for cervical cancer and HIV. And we must eliminate the financial, societal and structural barriers, including stigma, discrimination and gender based violence that prevent access to necessary support, services, prevention and care for all women, girls and key populations.
We urge MS to ensure funding and access to combination prevention, care, screening and treatment for cervical cancer for all women, girls, trans*, non binary and intersex people living with and affected by HIV in all our diversity. We can and must act to prevent and eliminate cervical cancer.