Substack opinion piece by Jirair Ratevosian
On June 23, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS by a vote of 149 in favor, 8 against, and 14 abstentions. Diplomats applauded. UNAIDS called it a road map. Advocates and implementors called it a floor. You can read more about what’s in here (from UNAIDS).
The countries that voted no: the United States, Russia, Israel, Burkina Faso, Burundi, North Korea, Niger, and Senegal.
Then consider the trend line: The 2021 declaration also broke consensus — Russia requested a vote and four countries voted against. But in 2021, the tally was 165 in favour, 4 against, 0 abstentions. And the United States voted yes.
The yes votes fell by 16. The no votes doubled. Fourteen countries that once voted yes now refused to commit either way. And the country that created PEPFAR, that has invested over $120 billion in the global AIDS response since 2004, crossed to the other side of the ledger.
That is not just a broken UN consensus but a collapsing political foundation on which every dollar of the global AIDS response was built.
Read the full opinion piece here.
Source : Substack | Jirair Ratevosian
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