2016

This document puts forward a framework with new strategic directions for 2016–2021 on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention as the follow-on to the Joint Strategic Action Framework 2012–2016. The new directions focus on adolescent boys and men, and take into account a range of physical and psychosocial health issues. They highlight the need for innovative approaches to overcome current barriers to services, increase acceptability, and address inequalities in access and coverage. This document will be used to inform, both regionally and globally, an action-oriented and operational framework on VMMC and men’s health, with overlapping benefits for women’s health.

Despite this significant progress, the number of children becoming newly infected with HIV remains unacceptably high. About 150,000 [110,000–190,000] children became infected with HIV in 2015, down from 490,000 [430,000–560,000] in 2000.

In June 2016, ICAP and partners convened a three-day, PEPFAR-supported meeting to explore the practical challenges of scaling up routine viral load testing in sub-Saharan Africa. The meeting took place in Ezulwini, Swaziland and brought together over 150 public health experts from 15 countries. This meeting report provides a comprehensive summary of the convening.

The first WHO guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding in 2010 recommended the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent postnatal transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. Since then, almost all countries prioritised in the UNAIDS ‘Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive’ have adopted the approach of promoting and supporting breastfeeding and the provision of lifelong antiretroviral treatment as the strategy to optimise HIV-free survival among HIV-exposed, uninfected infants and children. The 2016 guidelines provide two recommendations and two guiding practice statements and they comment on the implications for: (1) routine monitoring and evaluation, and (2) conflict and emergency settings.

Supplement to consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services

In this report, UNAIDS is announcing that 18.2 million people now have access to HIV treatment. The Fast-Track response is working. Increasing treatment coverage is reducing AIDS-related deaths among adults and children. But the life-cycle approach has to include more than just treatment. Tuberculosis (TB) remains among the commonest causes of illness and death among people living with HIV of all ages, causing about one third of AIDS-related deaths in 2015. These deaths could and should have been prevented.

Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative aims to galvanize global momentum around a shared and ambitious agenda to build on the progress achieved under the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. The Global Plan resulted in remarkable progress, reducing new HIV infections among children by 60% in 21 of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the job is far from done. In 2015, 150,000 [110,000–190,000] children became newly infected with HIV globally, 110,000 [78,000–150,000] of whom lived in the 21 Global Plan priority countries.

Namibia's National Guidelines for Antiretroviral Therapy (5th Edition) incorporates the latest WHO guidelines for treating and supporting people living with HIV. These guidelines utilize the 90-90-90 targets to end global AIDS by 2030 as a vision to end the AIDS epidemic in Namibia. The plan discusses expansion of HIV treatment and prevention, management of PrEP, PEP, and other ART, viral load monitoring, and patient centred HIV care for special populations.

Presentation on the Unfinished Agenda: HIV/AIDS among Children and Adolescents from the High-Level Meeting Civil Society Hearing.

Presentation on aligning UNICEF's HIV vision to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNAIDS Strategy.