High-level meeting (HLM) on HIV/AIDS

Events

High-level meeting (HLM) on HIV/AIDS

12 March 2021
UNAIDS

The high-level meeting will review the progress made in reducing the impact of HIV since the last United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS in 2016 and the General Assembly expects to adopt a new political declaration to guide the future direction of the response. The high-level meeting will take place as the world marks 40 years since the first case of AIDS was reported and 25 years of UNAIDS.

“World leaders must seize the opportunity offered by this new United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV and AIDS to maintain their focus and commitment on ending AIDS as a public health threat as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director. “The AIDS epidemic is unfinished business and must be ended for everyone everywhere, including for young women and adolescent girls and for other groups of people disproportionately affected by HIV. The right to health belongs to all of us.”

Progress towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals has been highly uneven and the global goals for 2020 adopted in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS were not met. Stigma and discrimination, the marginalization and criminalization of entire communities and a lack of access to health, education and other essential services continue to fuel the epidemic. Women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa and key populations (gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs and people in prison) and their partners globally continue to be disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic.

Given the constraints imposed by measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not yet been decided if the high-level meeting will be in-person, virtual or a hybrid of the two. In line with the resolution, UNAIDS encourages the highest level of participation of United Nations Member States and the inclusion of civil society organizations and people living with or at risk of HIV in delegations to the high-level meeting. UNAIDS also looks forward to the multistakeholder hearing as a key opportunity to hear the voices of people living with, at risk of and affected by HIV, including key populations.

Side Events

The Right to Rights: How to Get There for People who Use Drugs | Virtual side event at the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. | Jun 8, 2021 10:00 (EDT) // 16:00 (CET)

“Funding what’s possible” - The Robert Carr Fund Virtual Side Event at 2021 HLM on HIV/AIDS | Virtual side event at 2021 High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. | Jun 10, 2021 08:30 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Call for Nominations for the Multi-Stakeholder Task Force for the 2021 High=Level Meeting on AIDS (HLM)

To facilitate civil society involvement in the HLM and ensure an open, transparent and participatory process, UNAIDS will form a Multistakeholder Task Force (MSTF) comprised of representatives from civil society and the private sector by end of March. The

Task Force will advise UNAIDS, as the lead substantive UN entity, and through it, the Office of the President of the General Assembly, regarding the format, theme and programme of the multi-stakeholder hearing (MSH), as well as help identify speakers for the MSH and HLM plenary and panel discussions.

Task Force representatives will work with UNAIDS in developing key aspects of the High-Level Meeting. The role of representatives will be unpaid, but expenses and travel, if needed, will be met by UNAIDS.
Different constituency networks are being requested to use their own networks and selection processes to nominate individuals to be considered for the Task Force.

Completed nomination forms must be submitted by clicking here

The DEADLINE for nominations is 16 March 2021 at 18.00 CET. In case of questions, please send an email to euzebiodelimac@unaids.org.