UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation Update: August 2013

• Update: Recruitment 2014 is Extended
• Are We There Yet?
• Lancet Commission
• HIV Crisis & The Coup in Central African Republic
• PCB Meeting Overview
• ICPD Report
• MERG Indicator Working Group
• Call for Submissions on Effective Initiatives, Programmes & Processes to Work With and For Adolescents & Youth in The HIV Response
• UNAIDS e-survey on Financing

Recruitment 2014 is Extended

The Delegation is recruiting new members to join for the period of January 2014 – December 2015. The call has been sent out and the application is now extended until 31 August 2013. Interested applicants can apply via our Recruitment 2014 page.

This cycle will recruit delegates from Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America & The Caribbean, USA & North America to sit together in the NGO Delegation to the Programme Coordinating Board of UNAIDS.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview for these positions in mid to late September.

We wish all of you who applied the very best luck!

Are We There Yet? : HIV & AIDS in The Post 2015 Agenda

This June at the 33rd UNAIDS Programme Committee Board Meeting (PCB), Amina Mohamed addressed the PCB on the Post 2015 Agenda. Her words still echo, ” Leave no one behind and take everyone forward.”

To take everyone forward, we can ill afford to retreat on unfinished business. We stand at a crucial moment where with great strides we can halt vertical HIV transmission in babies, build and strengthen legal frameworks that protect the rights of persons most at risk for and vulnerable to HIV, eliminate gender inequities and achieve a world where women and girls can live healthy and happy lives, where people living with HIV can have access to life saving medications and life enhancing social protections.

This is indeed a moment of possibility. In order to actualize this possibility, it is imperative that we keep HIV and the unmet Millennium Development goals on the Agenda; Post 2015 and beyond.

We must dispel the mythology that HIV is no longer a problem. While half of those needing HIV medication are still without access, while punitive laws still prevent people from accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care, and while many women living with HIV are still denied access to sexual and reproductive health services beyond prenatal care, while men who have sex with men still face stigma and social ostracism; it is imperative that we redouble our efforts. We must not retreat. In the Post 2015 Agenda, the PCB NGO Delegation sees it imperative that Civil Society, Governments, the Private Sector, The United Nation Family and Global Thought Leaders recommit and work to build on and enhance our HIV and Human Rights gains. This will require sustained financial resources, proactive political will, targeted partnerships and coordination and unshaken determination to change the course of the HIV epidemic.

Together, we can see a world with healthy people, strong communities and a blossoming new generation of leaders. As such, we must be mindful that the seeds of today will be blossoms of tomorrow.

Lancet Commission: HIV & AIDS in The Post 2015 Agenda

The first meeting of the UNAIDS and Lancet commission was held in Lilongwe, Malawi between June 28 and 29th, convening a diverse group of stakeholders including the President of Malawi, former heads of state, global policy makers, people living with HIV, young people, development experts, scientists, and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and international nonprofit organizations on HIV/AIDS. The discussion focused on how the response to AIDS can serve as a transformative force in the future of global health and development in the Post 2015 agenda.

The theme of the meeting, hosted and co-chaired by the President of Malawi, Her Excellency Joyce Banda was, “from AIDS to sustainable health”. The conversation focused on harnessing global and regional resources for health, patent and commodity security, and the need to democratize global health. — Read the full article here

HIV Crisis & The Coup in The Central African Republic

In March 2013, fighting between Séléka rebel forces and the Central African Army resulted in the ousting of President Francois Bozize and overthrow of the government of the Central African Republic (CAR). Tens of thousands of people fled. Health facilities were looted and many were abandoned. As a result, thousands of people living with HIV (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) are now estimated to be ‘lost’. Prior to this conflict, the country had up to 15,000 PLHIV on ART. — Read the full article here

Report from ICPD : High-Level Task Force for ICPD Holds Regional Launch of its Policy Positions in Latin America and the Caribbean

The High-Level Task Force for the ICPD calls on States participating in the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean to accelerate efforts for achieving gender equality, the empowerment of women and young people and sexual and reproductive health and rights. — Read the full article here

MERG Indicator Working Group

Early June, UNAIDS convened the first meeting of the Measurement and Evaluation Reference Group’s (MERG) Indicator Working Group. The purpose of the MERG is, as its name indicates, to measure and evaluate the performance of the UNAIDS Programme around the globe. The MERG currently tracks some 150 indicators of country efforts to address the AIDS pandemic. These indicators, as well as others used by the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight Tuberculosis, Malaria and AIDS, and PEPFAR represent a hodge-podge of outcome measures developed over the last twenty years to monitor performance with little coherence or coordination. — Read the full article here

Call for Submissions on Effective Initiatives, Programmes & Processes to Work With and For Adolescents & Youth in The HIV Response

UNAIDS will use these submissions to inform the Thematic Segment on HIV, adolescents and youth at the 33rd Meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), 17-19 December 2013.

The submissions will be used to inform the background paper to the UNAIDS PCB Thematic Segment. Some of the submissions may also be selected to be highlighted at the Thematic Segment on 19 December 2013 (budget permitting). The submissions may also be compiled in a document on good practices for adolescents and youth in the HIV response.

Submissions should be made using the online submission form accessible via https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GLQ3MFJ by 31 August 2013. Should you be unable to access the electronic submission form, please contact Nina Sun, sunn@unaids.org, with copy to Mikaela Hildebrand, hildebrandm@unaids.org.

For more information on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, please see: http://www.unaids.org/en/aboutunaids/unaidsprogrammecoordinatingboard/

Further information on this call can be found here

UNAIDS E-survey for Civil Society Organizations Engaged in The Response to HIV

The UNAIDS Community Mobilization Division invites you to take part in an e-survey focusing on trends in funding for civil society engaged in the response to HIV.

The purpose of this survey is to gather information on the changes in the level of funding available to civil society organizations involved in the AIDS response in the past 3-4 years and the impact of these funding changes in terms of the focus and priorities of the organizational interventions.

The analysis will help to inform future advocacy and actions regarding funding to support the effective engagement of civil society in efforts to reach universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support. — Take part on the e-survey here

MERG Indicator Working Group

Early June, UNAIDS convened the first meeting of the Measurement and Evaluation Reference Group’s (MERG) Indicator Working Group. The purpose of the MERG is, as its name indicates, to measure and evaluate the performance of the UNAIDS Programme around the globe. The MERG currently tracks some 150 indicators of country efforts to address the AIDS pandemic. These indicators, as well as others used by the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight Tuberculosis, Malaria and AIDS, and PEPFAR represent a hodge-podge of outcome measures developed over the last twenty years to monitor performance with little coherence or coordination.

The Indicator Working Group was first established to develop indicators in response to the resolutions of the last UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS. Once those indicators were established, the Work Group lapsed. The new Indicator Work Group has been given a broader mandate. It is intended to provide two important functions. The first is to harmonize indicators being used globally, whether by the UNAIDS Programme, its co-sponsors, or independent funding entities such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR. The second is to standardize the process for reviewing and evaluating proposed indicators before they are rolled out so that they meet the technical standards for quality indicators. — Read the full article here

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