Progress Not Matching Global Ambition, Secretary-General Stresses in World Aids Day Message, Calling for More Testing, Resources to Prevent New Infections

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message for World AIDS Day, observed on 1 December:

Thirty years after the first World AIDS Day, the response to HIV stands at a crossroads.  Which way we turn may define the course of the epidemic — whether we will end AIDS by 2030 or whether future generations will carry on bearing the burden of this devastating disease.

More than 77 million people have become infected with HIV and more than 35 million have died of an AIDS-related illness.  Huge progress has been made in diagnosis and treatment, and prevention efforts have avoided millions of new infections.

Yet the pace of progress is not matching global ambition.  New HIV infections are not falling rapidly enough.  Some regions are lagging behind and financial resources are insufficient.  Stigma and discrimination are still holding people back, especially key populations — including gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgenders, people who inject drugs, prisoners and migrants and young women and adolescent girls.  Moreover, one in four people living with HIV do not know that they have the virus, impeding them from making informed decisions on prevention, treatment and other care and support services.

There is still time to scale up testing for HIV; to enable more people to access treatment; to increase resources needed to prevent new infections; and to end the stigma.  At this critical juncture, we need to take the right turn now.