The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the global HIV response by disrupting vital HIV programs and services. The pandemic has deepened inequalities within and between countries, and people living with HIV, key populations, and others at risk of HIV and TB have been affected.
- Affected programs and services include those focused on HIV prevention, treatment, care, and human rights, as well as HIV comorbidities, including TB.
- Supply chains for vital health commodities have been disrupted, reducing availability and increasing costs. Bottlenecks in the global supply of antiretroviral medicines threaten the health and lives of people living with HIV who depend on consistent supplies.
- Human rights concerns have been raised in the context of COVID-19 restrictions on movement and free speech, with disproportionate impacts on populations in vulnerable situations.
- COVID-19 has pushed back gender equality. Key and other vulnerable populations have been left out of social protection programs, and new vulnerabilities are emerging in relation to livelihoods, including for HIV-affected populations.
Therefore, the theme for the 48th PCB meeting will be “COVID-19 and HIV: sustaining HIV gains and building back better and fairer HIV responses”. The thematic day will take place on 2 July 2021.
Background to the thematic segment:
The thematic segment will provide an opportunity to:
Review the context, data, and information (different epidemiological contexts) on the colliding HIV and COVID-19 pandemics, in particular on how people living with HIV, key populations, women and girls, people on the move, and other communities most impacted by HIV are often also particularly affected by COVID-19 and its societal impacts.
- Explore and highlight how HIV and the COVID-19 pandemics impact all sectors of society. Provide examples and lessons learned from countries on multisectoral and rights-based responses to the colliding epidemics.
- Analyze what we have learned about the role that the HIV response investments, infrastructure, ecosystems, multisectoral, and leadership had in mounting a comprehensive and rapid response to COVID-19 and its many impacts.
- Explore and show examples of the importance of addressing inequalities as a determinant of ill health – as a founding principle of not only HIV responses but epidemic preparedness and systems for health at large, building on COVID-19 impacts and related responses.
- Examine how Governments and funding partners have been making reprogramming decisions in the HIV response since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting challenges and opportunities for multi-sectoral collaboration.
- Explore to what extent the HIV community was prepared compared to other communities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic/protect programs on HIV. Was there any difference in their engagement and acknowledgment of the HIV responses vs. COVID-19 planning and response? What can we learn from this for the future responses to new pandemics?
- Review the future role of National AIDS coordination bodies drawing on the Global HIV Prevention Coalition external review and the lessons learned from the engagement of national AIDS authorities during COVID-19 response, recognizing the need for multisectoral and integrated responses to accelerate HIV prevention while responding to COVID-19.
- Examine the role of the Joint Programme in working with Governments and partners on coordination, monitoring, and accountability of the HIV response in the context of COVID-19.
UNAIDS is seeking examples of good practices to inform the thematic segment background note and the discussions during the segment.
Scope of submissions
Specifically, UNAIDS is seeking examples of policies, programs, services, and other actions in the following areas (but not limited to):
- Concrete contributions of the HIV multisectoral response model to the COVID-19 response
- Examples of policies /service delivery changes introduced during COVID-19 that have been formalized and enable improvements on performance of both HIV and systems for health at large/pandemic preparedness, including community-led approaches and/or differentiated service delivery models that respond to people’s needs and context
- Examples of the use of the HIV infrastructure (laboratory, data) ecosystems and leadership to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Examples of leveraging HIV investments (funding, human resources capacities) for responding to COVID-19
- Best practices for addressing stigma discrimination and other human rights issues in the context of the colliding epidemics of HIV and COVID-19
- Examples of innovations in HIV service delivery using technology advancements, especially about securing uninterrupted access to services for key and vulnerable populations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
Who can submit?
UNAIDS welcomes submissions from national AIDS programs; Ministries of Health or other relevant Ministries, civil society organizations, particularly those representing affected communities, academic institutions, National Human Rights Institutions, United Nations system organizations, and other inter-governmental organization; and other national or local entities implementing joint programs addressing COVID-19 and HIV.
How will your submission be used?
The submissions will be used to inform the background note to the UNAIDS 48th PCB Thematic Segment. Some submissions may also be selected to be presented during the Thematic Day on 2 July 2021. Finally, all the submissions will be compiled in a document on good practices on COVID-19 and HIV: sustaining HIV gains and building back better and fairer HIV responses, which will be posted on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board website.
For questions on this call for submissions of good practices, please contact
- Nertila Tavanxhi at tavanxhin@unaids.org, copying Adriana Hewson at hewsona@unaids.org.