HIV/AIDS

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

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.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the World AIDS Day high-level event on adolescent girls and young women, with the Global Fund and the Government of South Africa, in Johannesburg today:

Having made considerable progress in reducing the rates of new HIV infections and expanding the availability of antiretroviral drugs, the global community must resist the temptation to “rest on its laurels” and instead redouble efforts to completely eradicate the virus, the General Assembly heard today, as delegates outlined national progress towards meeting testing and treatment benchmarks to that end.

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Gunilla Carlsson of Sweden as Deputy Executive Director of Management and Governance, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that refugees fleeing militia violence in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and arriving in Zambia have crossed the 12,000 mark, with 80 per cent of them women and children, driven out by extreme brutality of rampaging militias.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks to the General Assembly annual meeting on HIV/AIDS, in New York today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message for the UN Cares Awards, in New York, today:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, on receiving the Founders Award from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, in New York today: