AIDSPortal

PRESS RELEASE: UNAIDS board rejects sunsetting of UNAIDS 

🔗 unaids.org/en/resources/pres…

UNAIDS congratulates Mark Dybul as the new Executive Director of the @GlobalFund and also warmly welcomes the new Board Chair and Vice-Chair, Erna Solberg and Javier Hourcade Bellocq. We also thank Peter Sands, and Chair and Vice Chair Lady Roslyn Morauta and Bience Gawanas, for their excellent leadership of the Global Fund over these years. UNAIDS and the Global Fund have worked hand in hand to advance the global HIV response, expand access to life-saving treatment and prevention, and support countries and communities.  We look forward to working in partnership and solidarity to build on this longstanding partnership and accelerate progress towards ending AIDS by 2030.

As UNAIDS prepares for the upcoming Special Session of the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), the question is not simply how to make the Joint Programme more efficient, but how to ensure that its transformation strengthens the global HIV response. At #WHS2026, Christine Stegling, Director of Management and Partnerships at UNAIDS, highlighted that UNAIDS accounts for just 0.5% of global HIV resources in low- and middle-income countries. Discussions about efficiencies and savings must be considered in this wider context. Reform must address duplication while preserving the essential functions that UNAIDS provides: coordination, accountability and political advocacy for people living with HIV and those most at risk. As PCB members consider the way forward, we must be clear about what needs to be protected, who will be responsible for delivering it, and how we will ensure that the transition strengthens support for countries and communities. The measure of success must be a stronger, more accountable global HIV response — one that keeps us on track to end AIDS as a public health threat. #PCBSpecial