UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Chapter 3In collaboration with the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights ofthe Harvard School of Public Health and the AIDS Control and Prevention Project of FamilyHealth International, for the first time UNAIDS presented harmonized epidemiologicalstatistics. In the Johns Hopkins HIV Report 9 , Thomas C Quinn wrote that: ‘Some of the mostsobering statistics at the meeting were from the newly formed UNAIDS … It is now estimatedthat 33.2 million adults and children worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, of whom 31.1 million(94%) live in the developing world … In 1995 alone, 3.0 million new adult HIV infectionsoccurred, averaging 8000 new infections each day. Of these about 290 000, an average ofnearly 800 new infections per day, occurred in Southeast Asia and 2.4 million infections (closeto 6,600 new infections per day) were in sub-Saharan Africa. The industrialized world, incontrast, accounted for 98 000 new HIV infections in 1995, or 3% of the global total’.61This conference was undoubtedly a success for UNAIDS, and helped to position the organizationas a key reference point. Vancouver was the first international AIDS conference wherethe developing world was firmly on the agenda, and UNAIDS contributed to this change inperspective. Weeks of preparation and negotiations had paid off.Policy makingAs well as tracking the epidemic, UNAIDS was to become a major source of globally relevantpolicy on AIDS 10 and would promote a ‘range of multi-sectoral approaches and interventions,which are strategically, ethically and technically sound, aimed at HIV/AIDS-specific prevention,care and support …’ 11. The Policy, Strategy and Research department had broughttogether people from varying backgrounds – nongovernmental organizations, academia,health services, activism – with considerable expertise, but it was a small team to cover awide range of topics. The aim was also to involve experts from the Cosponsors, for example,through interagency task teams (or working groups), but these were too often talking – oreven shouting – shops and did not result in major pieces of policy for some years.Collaboration with researchers and policy makers around the world was more successful, aswas the dissemination of effective policies and strategies through a range of documents frombrief fact sheets to lengthy, detailed case studies.UNAIDS released new data from countries and new research as advocacy and for the useof policy makers, for example, the evidence from Thailand and Uganda that prevalence wasfalling and the reasons for the decline. These countries, plus Senegal, where low prevalencewas maintained, were ‘beacons of hope’ in a grim landscape. They remained the best examplesof successful prevention for several years.9‘The status and trends of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic’ symposium, 5-6 July 1996.10UNAIDS (1995). Executive Director’s Report to the First Meeting of the UNAIDS PCB, July. Geneva, UNAIDS.11Ibid.