EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declarations on HIV/AIDS Annual review

Mr. President, Excellencies and colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.

The Candidate Countries Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Armenia align themselves with this statement.

As in past years, we welcome today’s debate on the follow up to the 2021 High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS and its Political Declaration.

Convened every year to discuss the progress achieved and the challenges of responding to HIV/AIDS, it helps pave the way to the ambitious but achievable goal of ending HIV/AIDS as a global epidemic.

The first case of AIDS was diagnosed over 40 years ago and it has been now more than 20 years since the groundbreaking UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS and the creation of the Global Fund.  And yet, we still have a lot of work to do if we want to end HIV/AIDS as a global epidemic by 2030.

Important progress has been made, we should acknowledge it and be proud of that. But the fight against HIV/AIDS is far from over. The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed hard-won gains against HIV.  More than ever we must remain committed to taking urgent and sustained action through a coordinated global HIV response.

AIDS claims lives every minute of the day and shatters families and communities. HIV stigma and discrimination continue to harm people living with HIV and key populations.

Every case that can be prevented saves lives, spares grievances and spares life-long treatment besides saving economic resources. Every case that receives treatment gives new hope not only to an individual but also to families and communities. Every stigma that is challenged improves the wellbeing and mental health of people living with and affected by HIV.

Last year, the European Union pledged 715 million euro from the EU budget to the Global Fund for the period of 2023-2025. Together with its Member States, as Team Europe, the total amount is more than 4.3 billion euro. This shows our longstanding commitment to the Fund and to the fight against HIV.

Furthermore, the new Global Health Strategy of the EU, as well as the Global Gateway, focus and renew the EU commitment to strengthening health systems across the globe. In a Team Europe approach, the EU, its Member States and their financial and development institutions are committed to mobilizing the private sector to support and align with the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Global Gateway Initiative focuses notably on prioritizing the security of pharmaceutical supply chains and the development of local manufacturing. Over 300 billion euro in investments are being mobilised to help support health investments, amongst others.

President, Excellencies, the Global AIDS Strategy, adopted by the Board of UNAIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS adopted by the HLM in 2021 remain the critical guidance we need for the coming years. They have our full backing.

The EU and its Member States also support the important work and solid expertise of UNAIDS in guiding the global response.  Stressing the importance of the final recommendation of this year’s report, notably to integrate and harness synergies between the AIDS response and broader health efforts, we applaud UNAIDS for its leadership role in Sexual and Reproductive Health and in Gender equality.

We need to be united and ambitious if we want to meet the high expectations and live up to the commitments of the political declaration. The work done by UNAIDS to measure the progress which is being made to deliver on the SDG commitment of ending AIDS by 2030 is key.

We cannot let down those already living with and affected by HIV. And we must do our outmost to prevent every new single case in the future. Decades of experience and evidence show that intersecting inequalities are preventing progress towards ending AIDS.  With new diagnostics, prevention tools and treatment we can achieve the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

The EU and its Member States continue to pledge our strong commitment to this cause and call upon all members to do the same.     

Thank you.