United Nations published this video item, entitled “Launch of the World AIDS Day Report – Let Communities Lead | Press Conference | United Nations” – below is their description.
Press conference by Angeli Achrekar (UNAIDS), on the launch of the World AIDS Day report – Let Communities Lead.
A new UNAIDS report Let Communities Lead, shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors.
Speaking to reporters today (28 Nov) in New York, Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, said, “Every single minute, a life is lost to AIDS. Every week, 4,000 adolescent girls and young women are newly infected by HIV. And still 9.2 million people around the world that are living with HIV do not have access to life saving treatment.”
Achrekar reiterated, “It’s the communities that know best they know how to design, how to implement, how to monitor HIV programs and strategies to reach the people most in need,” adding that “it is the communities that will be the ones that sustain the HIV response into the future.”
The Deputy Executive Director also said, “There’s no doubt that community leadership builds stronger and healthier societies and again, that is why this World AIDS Day, it’s not a moment to only just honor community leadership. It’s also a moment for us to call to action, to governments to fully support communities, to organizations to fully support the lifesaving work, and to remove the barriers that prohibit the way that communities can lead.”
Achrekar urged all to “first acknowledge community leadership, ensure that communities lead in the roles that we know they can and that they’re central to the HIV response.”
Second, she said is to resource communities, adding that “we need to ensure that community leaderships are properly resourced. We’ve seen a decrease in funding around the globe to community organizations, that must increase.”
Finally, the Deputy Executive Director said, “we need to protect communities. Protect everyone’s human rights. Right now, anti-human rights, anti-women’s rights, anti-democracy and shrinking civil space has threatened the work of community organizations and communities themselves. This has both threatened them as leaders in the response in the HIV response, but it has also threatened the HIV response around the world.”
As World AIDS Day (1 Dec) approaches, UNAIDS is urging governments across the world to unleash the power of grassroots communities across the world to lead the fight to end AIDS.
United Nations YouTube Channel
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