World off track for 2015 AIDS targets: Call for European Union to maintain commitment to AIDS programmes

Brussels – Ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December, ONE is calling on the European Union to maintain funding for lifesaving AIDS programmes as new research shows the world is off-track for achieving key targets for the year 2015.    

UN-backed efforts to drastically reduce the rate of new infections amongst adolescents and adults as well as programmes targeting mother-child transmissions both need to be stepped up according to the ONE / DATA Report ‘The Beginning of the End? Tracking Global Commitments on AIDS’. 

However the target of 15 million people on anti-retroviral treatments by 2015 is well within reach if current rates of treatment growth can be sustained and increased modestly, the report finds.

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in meeting the 2015 challenge is funding, with the UN estimating that there is a $6 billion annual funding gap for AIDS programmes.

The European Union is currently negotiating its budget for 2014-2020. These negotiations represent a crucial opportunity for long-term and sustainable EU assistance for the fight against HIV/AIDS according to the report.  In particular, the European Commission’s ability to robustly support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through the EU’s Development Cooperation Instrument and the European Development Fund will be dependent on the outcome of these negotiations.  ONE is calling for the European Union to continue to pledge at least €100 million annually to the Global Fund and to ensure that all future spending on HIV/AIDS is geared towards reporting results on the ground.

Eloise Todd, Brussels director of ONE said:

“The EU has repeatedly promised to play its part in the fight to rid the world of AIDS.  World AIDS Day is the moment for Commissioner Piebalgs to pledge continued long-term financial support for the Global Fund in 2013.

The negotiations over the next long term EU budget are a great opportunity to maintain support for the Global Fund as well as the AIDS programmes supported through EU assistance to national health systems.  But now is also the time to seriously ramp up efforts to track the results of this spending.

HIV/AIDS is a priority across EU health programmes; if that strategy is delivering results, it should be applauded.  But today we just don’t know - that must change.  Without being able to properly track results it’s going to be much harder to get to the beginning of the end of AIDS by 2015.”

- The report can be downloaded from www.one.org/aidsreport    

Notes to editors:

- ONE defines the ‘beginning of the end of AIDS’ as the time when the number of people newly added to antiretroviral treatment becomes equal to, and eventually surpasses,  the number of people newly infected with HIV each year. There is a mixed picture on achieving the three key targets.

ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organisation backed by more than 3 million people from around the world dedicated to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. For more information please visit www.ONE.org

For further information or to arrange an interview with Eloise Todd please contact Dudley Curtis on +32 485 379945 or dudley.curtis@one.org