For information only - not an official document
UNIS/CP/921
7 June 2016
VIENNA 7 June (UN Information Service) - Today, world leaders, civil society and other key stakeholders have assembled in New York for the High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS.
UN Member States are expected to adopt a Political Declaration on Ending AIDS as a means to increase progress and reach specific deadlines in the global response to HIV/AIDS. These actions will reaffirm the global commitment to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as a co-sponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), wholeheartedly supports countries in improving access to HIV prevention, treatment and care among people who use drugs, and people in prisons. Individuals who are all too frequently overlooked in the response to HIV.
UNODC supports governments and civil society organizations to implement large-scale, evidence-informed and human rights-based interventions.
We advocate the delivery of comprehensive packages of key HIV interventions, mainstreaming gender into the HIV response and building bridges between health, justice and law enforcement. This is to ensure access to evidence-based prevention, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS in line with the World Health Organization, UNODC and UNAIDS technical guide published on this subject.
I firmly believe we have the evidence-based strategies and tools.
But, if we are to end AIDS by 2030, we must act quickly and deliberately by prioritizing and investing in the most effective interventions for people who use drugs and for people in prisons.
UNODC welcomes the restated commitment of Member States made at the UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem (UNGASS) to end, by 2030, the epidemics of AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as combat viral hepatitis and other communicable diseases among people who use or inject drugs.
We, at UNODC, are proud to contribute to the efforts of the countries currently striving for the Fast-Track Goal for 2020 of reducing new HIV infections among people who use drugs and for people in prisons, and to achieving the joint target of ending AIDS by 2030.
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For further information, please contact:
David
Dadge
Spokesperson, UNODC
Telephone: (+43 1) 26060-5629
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-5629
Email: david.dadge[at]unvienna.org
