Press Statement
UNAIDS welcomes bold new HIV prevention and treatment targets from PEPFAR
Strong focus on adolescent girls and young women and on ensuring access to treatment will Fast-Track results
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 26 September 2015 - UNAIDS welcomes the ambitious new targets set by the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) just one day after the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by United Nations Member States at the UN headquarters in New York which include ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
PEPFAR has set specific targets for preventing new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24. The targets also include ensuring access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for 12.9 million children, pregnant women and adults by the end of 2017.
“The United States of America's continued commitment will be a stepping stone towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Under the bold leadership of President Obama, these generous investments are and will continue to save millions of lives.”
The targets set by PEPFAR will make a significant contribution to the UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. This announcement will create momentum to achieve the 90-90-90 HIV treatment target whereby 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads.
As well as expanding access to HIV treatment, PEPFAR's newly announced targets aim to reduce HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women by 40% by the end of 2017 in PEPFAR focus areas across 10 countries—Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These 10 countries accounted for nearly half of all new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women in 2014. The commitments also include the provision to cumulatively reach up to 13 million men with voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention by the end of 2017.
UNAIDS looks forward to continuing to work closely with PEPFAR towards ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram.
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Contact
UNAIDS New York
Sophie Barton-Knott
tel. +41 79 514 6896
bartonknotts@unaids.org
Source: UNAIDS
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