The UN Resolution: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
This past week the United Nations General Assembly held a High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (HLM) resulting in a resolution that recommits the governments of the world to a robust response to HIV. FCAA applauds the urgency expressed in the resolution, and the recognition of the need to “frontload” financing in order to avoid a resurgence of the epidemic in places where significant progress has been made to curtail it. However, as has been noted by many advocates, the resolution was laden with wins, yet enormous failures.
On the positive side, FCAA was pleased to work with partners, including UNAIDS, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Children’s Fund Investment Foundation, the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS, and Elma Philanthropies to convene health ministers, public and private funders to highlight the urgent need to remove barriers to improving treatment access and outcomes for pregnant women, children and youth. This group of stakeholders played a pivotal role in ensuring that the resolution was responsive to these issues. For more on the philanthropic response to date, please review FCAA’s benchmark data on HIV philanthropic support for children and youth, that shows that HIV-related philanthropic funders disbursed $115.6 million in support of children and youth in 2014.
Where the resolution fell significantly short, was in identifying and addressing the critical needs of key affected populations. In a statement issued by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV the group said “the Political Declaration inexcusably fails to meaningfully address the HIV epidemic among key populations, including gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, and transgender people.”
This disappointment, however, was met with a resounding call of new investment by theU.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In a statement from the HLM, PEPFAR launched a $100 million Key Populations Investment Fund “to expand access to proven HIV prevention and treatment services for key populations.” This follows several recent PEPFAR Country Operational Plan reviews in April and May where the U.S. Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) under Ambassador Deborah Birx committed to improve key populations programming in multiple PEPFAR country operational plans in 2016-2017.
While it painful to witness that after 35 years of loss and struggle, gay men, sex workers and people who use drugs are still forced into the shadows by repressive forces, I am proud to be an American today in learning about this new commitment from PEPFAR to reach these critical populations with the services they so urgently need.
The philanthropic response in the global fight against HIV/AIDS is just a small part of total resources; but it is mighty. It represents a history of supporting populations and issues often under- or unfunded by governments. In 2014, for example, philanthropic support for these key populations totaled more than $76 million. This new commitment from PEPFAR provides an exciting moment for the philanthropic sector to leverage. How can we partner to increase the impact of both public and private investment in these populations?
I look forward to continuing this critical conversation with you all in the lead up to AIDS2016 in Durban. I hope to see you there.
John Barnes,
FCAA