UNAIDS press statement
GENEVA, 22 June 2026 — The United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS opened today at a moment of incertitude for the global AIDS response. Decades of progress have delivered what once seemed impossible: millions of lives saved, new HIV infections reduced, and treatment expanded around the world.
However, as global leaders gather in New York to adopt a new UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, the last Declaration before the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, that progress is increasingly threatened due to funding cuts and a push back on human rights. Global leaders face a defining question: will the world protect hard-won gains and accelerate towards ending AIDS?
“This Political Declaration is our chance to build on 25 years of commitment and point the way to 2030 to show that multilateralism can deliver,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We cannot fail, because we know what we must do: commit to multilateralism; sustain international financing as countries mobilize their own resources; protect the rights of people living with HIV; let communities lead for their people; and spur the science, so that innovations reach everyone in need as fast as possible, if we do these things, we can end AIDS.”
Read the full press statement here.
SEE ALSO:
- Health Policy Watch: ‘Progress is not success,’ warns UNAIDS at start of poorly attended UN High-Level Meeting on HIV
- EU Statement – UN General Assembly: 2026 High-level meeting on HIV/AIDS
Source : UNAIDS
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