Does AIDS still warrant a place in the new UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

In the past few weeks we witnessed two major milestones on the long road towards the post-2015 development era.

A well-attended summit on Financing for Development took place in Ethiopia mid-July and struck a deal on sustainable development financing, in what was considered to be a good foundation for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) negotiations, even though it was not a perfect deal by any stretch and can’t be considered the final word, it was a good first step.

Over 800 businesses were represented, the most ever for a UN meeting. With a mix of 8 plenaries, 6 roundtables and 187 side events, delegates were running from meeting to meeting to capitalize on their presence. While there were several unresolved issues from preparatory negotiations, namely reference to Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), the future of and institutional home for international tax cooperation, and the relationships between the FFD and the post-2015 outcomes and follow-up mechanisms, an outcome document Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) was adopted and this is something to celebrate.

The AAAA sent an important political signal for the post-2015 negotiations. Cynicism aside, it was an incredible opportunity to set in motion a truly transformative and universal agenda that seeks to address the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development within a framework that seeks to leave no one behind.

The AAAA helps set the global policy and marks a clear direction of travel. It sends a strong signal that countries are serious about the post-2015 dispensation and are willing to compromise. There is genuinely new and exciting content that moves us in the right direction. In particular, the shift from development for the poorest countries to sustainable development for all cannot be overemphasized though it will take time, commitment and effort to translate into practice.

The MDGs helped shape the world we live in but they had limitations, were narrowly defined, took a long time to gain traction and remained the domain of a few development experts. Over 26 million people are already engaged in the SDGs and we have the potential to create an army of activists to hold leaders to account.

The Addis Ababa conference will be remembered for putting to rest the debate about the necessity for both public and private sources of finance for sustainable development. As the UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibe, pointed out at the Innovative Financing side event, the private sector is “essential if we are to reach the ambitions we are setting”.

The conference attracted a strong business presence looking for real opportunities in shared values, i.e. aligning social outcomes with business outcomes. There are trillions of dollars looking for yield. The trick is identifying and removing the blockages to investments that are good for sustainable development, be that risk, real or perceived; the lack of negotiating capacity and power imbalances; limits on bankable propositions; or weak governance and legal environments that put a break on business sector expansion and development. Far more important now is the challenge of execution and translating the AAAA into action that is meaningful and at scale. Much work still needs to be done.

The UN Secretary-General announced, at a side-event in Addis Ababa, that the world has reached the target of 15 million people on treatment by 2015 (months ahead of the formal deadline). This was a hugely significant moment which demonstrated what the world can achieve when it puts political will and financial resources behind what many saw as an outrageous ambition. See the UNAIDS Report “How AIDS Changed Everything” on: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2015/MDG6_15years-15lessonsfromtheAIDSresponse.

I am very optimistic that the “Fifteen lessons of hope” described in the UNAIDS Report will be used as lessons that are learned and applied in the pursuit of the SDGs across the board.

Making History: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, known as ‘Transforming our world - The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development’ was adopted on 02 August 2015. The above meeting in Addis Ababa set the scene to accelerate the final stint towards agreement on the SDG Outcome Document—The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, that took place in New York.

‘The Agenda’ (we will no longer talk about the Post-2015 Agenda), was gavelled by acclamation by UN Member States in an inspiring moment for the world body as the final draft to be tabled for approval at the UN General Assembly Summit in September 2015 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/7891TRANSFORMING%20OUR%20WORLD.pdf). This is a phenomenal achievement that comes at the heels of a world-wide consultation and high level participation by nations, international bodies, private sector and civil societies.

The Agenda comprises of four pillars: Declaration; Sustainable Development Goals and targets; Means of implementation and the Global Partnership; and Follow-up and review prefixed with a one-page Preamble to succinctly communicate the agenda, the 29-page document lays out the why, what, how and who needed to achieve sustainable development and eradicate poverty by 2030. It is a true consensus document and it was clear it includes compromises on all sides and, it marks the coming together of Member States around a shared vision.

It is important to note that The Declaration makes reference, among many others, to people living with HIV as among ‘people who are vulnerable and must be empowered’ (this was a last minute change brought about the night before thanks to the strong advocacy of Brazil) as well as reiterating the commitment of Member States to ‘accelerate the pace of progress made in fighting HIV/AIDS’. As proposed by the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, target 3.3. on ‘ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030’ remains untouched and is included under the SDGs and targets chapter.

We must now turn our focus to implementation. As many Member States reiterated, this will be a journey that will involves all - Member States, civil society, the private sector, the UN system, academia and all peoples and societies. UNAIDS is ready to support implementation and the follow-up and review of commitments made in this agenda through its 2016-21 Strategy which is set to be adopted by UNAIDS Board members in October this year.

Given that the negotiations to date have been an ‘informal’ process, the agreed Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development will be forwarded to the 69th session of the General Assembly which will acknowledge and forward the document to the 70th session of the General Assembly where it will be adopted during the Summit on the post-2015 development agenda. The UNAIDS Executive Director convened an event at the UN in NY on the UNAIDS-Lancet Commission Report and UNAIDS continues to deepen conversations on finance for health. This will lead to the important road ahead to 2016, to the UNGASS on drugs and the HLM on AIDS.

For the AIDS response in Ghana all this is good news. The international focus and drive to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is a clear indication of shared responsibility and global solidarity to support the national AIDS response achieve it ultimate targets.

As Ghana revises its National Strategic Plan on AIDS it is important to adopt the UNAIDS fast tracking initiative to have 90% of all people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and that 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression by 2020. Such an achievement will ensure the road to end AIDS by 2030.

This article was compiled from various update notes provided by the UNAIDS Liaison Office in New York, led by Mr Simon Bland

By

Mr Girmay Haile

UNAIDS Country Director-Ghana

06 August 2015

Accra