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United Nations member States has adopted the Zambia-Switzerland co-facilitated Political Declaration on ending AIDS by 2030, within the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations Dr. Mwaba Kasese-Bota and her Swiss counterpart Lauber Jurg co-facilitated the High-Level Meeting that led to the adoption on Wednesday of the ambitious and action-driven Political Declaration with specific and time-bound targets to be reach by 2020, and end AIDS by 2030.
Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Prime Ministers, First Ladies, Ministers, people living with HIV, representatives of civil society, international organizations, the private sector, scientists, academicians and other stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS are participating in the three-day High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS to build on the commitments made in the Political Declaration, and to set the world on course to end AIDS.
The Declaration commit to targets for 2020 to work towards reducing the global numbers of people newly infected with HIV to fewer than 500,000 per annum and people dying from AIDS-related causes to fewer than 500,000 per annum, as well as to eliminate HIV – related stigma and discrimination.
It commits to differentiate AIDS responses, based on country-ownership and leadership, local priorities, drivers, vulnerabilities, aggravating factors, the populations that are affected and strategic information and evidence, and to set ambitious quantitative targets, where appropriate depending on epidemiological and social context, tailored to national circumstances in support of these goals.
The declaration calls upon all relevant stakeholders to close the global HIV and AIDS resource gap between the resources available today and the resources needed to reach the Fast track targets by 2020. The declaration targets to eliminate new HIV infections among children by reducing new infections by 95 percent in every region by 2020.
It further commits to increasing and front-loading investments to achieve the fast- track targets by 2020 as an essential milestone towards the target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and positively contributing to a wide range of development outcomes.
The declaration commit to increasing and fully funding the AIDS response from all sources, including from innovative financing, and reaching overall financial investments in developing countries of at least USD 26 billion per year by 2020, with continued increase from the current levels of domestic public and private sources, according to each country’s capacity – supplemented by public and private international assistance and strengthened global solidarity.
UN General Assembly President of the General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft from Denmark appointed Dr. Kasese-Bota and Mr. Jurg to co-facilitate the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Kasese-Bota expressed gratitude to Mr. Lykketoft for his confidence in her and Zambia to co-facilitate the historic High-Level Meeting that is at the core of persevering humanity.
The Zambia UN Ambassador commended Member States for their support, and for reaching a compromise in the spirit of multilateralism, to agree and adopt the Political Declaration, which will save lives and contribute to sustainable development worldwide.
In a message to Dr. Kasese-Bota and Mr. Jurg, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé thanked the duo for their dedication, tireless energy and determination.
“ We could not have done this without you, and the future success of our efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 will be a direct result of your time and energies over the past few months,” said Sidibé.
“You have been true allies in our effort, and I hope we can count on you to continue to push for the effective implementation of our Political Declaration so that we leave no one behind.
“ Please rest assured that we will do everything we can to support the implementation of the Political Declaration. Once again thank you for all that you have done – particularly for the millions whom you will never meet, but who will be the direct beneficiaries of your vision and your efforts.”
This is contained in a statement issue to ZANIS by Chibaula Silwamba , First Secretary for Press and Public Relations Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations.
