HIV/AIDS

Humanitarian workers in Sudan report that the security situation in the town of Ag Geneina in western Darfur is stable but remains tense and unpredictable.  More than 230,000 people were displaced by the conflict in Darfur since the beginning of 2021, more than four times the 53,000 displaced in all of 2020.

The General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level meeting from 8 to 10 June to take stock of global efforts to end the HIV/AIDS crisis by 2030, adopting a draft resolution to that effect after a lengthy debate on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The Mission in South Sudan deployed a Nepalese Quick Reaction Force Team to Cueibet to support local police protecting civilians from a potential conflict between armed groups, following the killing of a young man.  The peacekeepers intercepted the groups and remained in the area until the situation was stable. 

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

A new United Nations Children’s Fund report shows that 320,000 children and young people under the age of 20 were infected with HIV in 2019 – about one every 100 seconds, bringing the total number of children living with HIV to 2.8 million.  About half of children worldwide had access to life-saving treatment; nearly 100,000 children died of AIDS.

Without mitigation efforts, COVID-19-related service disruptions could result in more than 500,000 extra deaths from tuberculosis, HIV and other AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa from 2020 to 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said today.

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

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Winifred “Winnie” Karagwa Byanyima of Uganda as the next Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

While the global fight to defeat AIDS has produced remarkable progress over the past decade — with HIV infections among children and deaths from related illnesses among people of all ages nearly cut in half — greater efforts are needed to overcome one of history’s greatest health crises, delegates told the General Assembly today as they registered mixed results in reversing negative trends.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Shannon Hader of the United States as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of Programme at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).