2020: Seizing the Moment - Tackling Entrenched Inequalities to End Epidemics (Global Aids Update)

UNAIDS GLOBAL UPDATE REPORT 2020

Demands for social transformation are building as the global HIV response reaches an important milestone. Four years ago, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly agreed that ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 required an accelerated expansion of HIV services alongside rightsaffirming and enabling environments for those services. Interim targets were agreed to be achieved by the end of 2020. Significant progress has been achieved. Dozens of countries from a diverse range of geographic, economic and epidemic settings are on track or nearly on track to achieve many of these commitments, proving that bold targets can be met with sufficient political will, financial resources and community engagement. A common thread among these countries is determined political leadership on AIDS, strong community engagement, rights-based and multisectoral approaches, and the consistent use of scientific evidence to guide concerted action. These hallmarks of success are relevant not only for other countries’ responses to HIV—they are vital lessons for the world as it mobilizes against a new pandemic threat.

However, the sad truth is that successes in some countries and regions are tempered by failures in others. The global aggregate of country data reported to UNAIDS shows that the world has invested too few resources, provided too few people with services and failed to bend the curves of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths as significantly as was envisioned in the UNAIDS FastTrack Strategy. As a result, all global targets for 2020 will be missed.