Progress on HIV prevention is the surest path to an AIDS-free generation.
Medical and public policy breakthroughs have accelerated the possibilities for protecting against HIV infection and towards expanding rights and choices for people around the world. Groundbreaking new medications have broadened prevention options so people can choose what works best to safeguard themselves. More countries are beginning to embed HIV prevention in national health systems.
However, this progress is facing major setbacks. Unprecedented funding cuts in international aid have hit HIV prevention programmes particularly hard. Already, the cuts have deprived nearly 2.5 million people of life-saving PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) medications. Prevention programmes have been destabilized across sub-Saharan Africa – where half of all new HIV acquisitions occurred last year.
Without a rapid reversal in course, the forecast is grim. By 2030, 3.3 million more people could acquire HIV. A disproportionate number of adolescent girls and young women are at risk of infection.
Girls and women aged 15 to 24 make up one quarter of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. We know that HIV increases maternal deaths and inhibits people living with the virus from accessing healthcare through fear of stigma. It is also strongly associated with gender-based violence and gender inequality. This derails the rights and choices of women and girls, with long-lasting consequences for them and their communities.
Sustaining past progress on prevention now largely depends on strong national leadership and finance, both domestic and international.
There is also a need for smart public policies. In scores of countries, dismantling criminal penalties for same-sex relations and sex work would dramatically improve access to information and care. Tackling gender inequality, violence and stigma in healthcare systems and societies more broadly will be instrumental in reducing factors that put people at risk of HIV. Integrating HIV services into routine sexual and reproductive healthcare, including family planning and maternal health, would make them more readily available to many women and girls.
At this crossroads in the AIDS response, UNFPA continues to support countries in sustaining and improving HIV prevention, particularly for adolescent girls, young women and key populations, along with providing treatment and related services.
The combined efforts of governments, international organizations, activists and communities have led to remarkable progress on HIV, saving nearly 27 million lives to date. Now, we need to come together and finish what we know works and what we know is possible – an AIDS-free future for all.
