UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

UNAIDS The First 10 Years126 From 2000 to 2001: increasing efforts and advocacyfor preventionStarting with the UN Security Council and ending with the powerful voices at the AfricaDevelopment Forum in Addis Ababa, the year 2000 had been one of enormous activity and ofa huge step forward in the visible commitment from leaders across the globe. An increasingnumber of countries, including Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Swaziland and Uganda, hadheads of state chairing their HIV/AIDS national body. By the end of 2000, both domestic andinternational resource flows started to increase for Africa.The ongoing focus of policy makers and the media on antiretroviral treatment had, accordingto some, been a detriment to HIV prevention. Arguing that drugs were not the only solution,Alan Whiteside 28 wrote that ‘there is a real danger that we may lose sight of … other goals.First, treating the symptoms does not get to the cause. Prevention must remain a priority,ensuring new generations do not need treatment’. UNAIDS takes the view that treatment andprevention should go in tandem but many would agree that for several years, the spotlightwas more intensely on treatment. Purnima Mane, former Director of UNAIDS’ Policy, Evidenceand Partnerships Department, and now Deputy Executive Director (Programme) at the UnitedNations Population Fund (UNFPA), commented: “With the arrival of the Global Fund, preventionfell through the cracks”.While collaboration was improving with some Cosponsors, vital work on AIDS preventionamong young people was constrained by interagency disagreements. Too many preventionprogrammes, even if apparently successful, were small projects.Young Indian school boysare learning about HIV inan AIDS awareness class.In a nearby school, girlsreceived similar lessons.There was an urgent needto scale up preventionprojects in many countries.UNAIDS/S.Mathey28Whiteside A (2001). ‘Drugs: the solution?’ AIDS Analysis Africa, 11 (6), April/May.