World AIDS Day 2020 Message

·      Dumelang ! Hope you are all well.

·      Every year, on 1 December, the world commemorates World AIDS Day. People around the world unite to show support for people living with and affected by HIV and to remember those who lost their lives to AIDS.

·      In 2020, the world’s attention has been focused by the COVID-19 pandemic on health and how pandemics affect lives and livelihoods.

·      COVID-19 is showing once again how health is interlinked with other critical issues, such as reducing inequality, human rights, gender equality, social protection and economic growth.

·      With this in mind, this year the theme of World AIDS Day is  “Global solidarity, shared responsibility”.

·      COVID-19 has demonstrated that, during a pandemic, no one is safe until everyone is safe. Leaving people behind is not an option if we are to succeed.

·      Eliminating stigma and discrimination, putting people at the centre and grounding our responses in human rights and gender-responsive approaches are key to ending the colliding pandemics of HIV and COVID-19.

·      The COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed the entrenched inequalities existing in our societies. This health crisis, like many others, is hitting the poorest and the most vulnerable the hardest.

·      We have seen how the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the challenges faced by people living with HIV, women and girls and key populations, including in accessing life-saving health care, and how the crisis has widened the social and economic inequalities that increase the vulnerability of marginalized groups to HIV.

·      However, this crisis has also been a wake-up call, an opportunity to do things differently—better, and together.

·      In many respects, the defeat of AIDS as a public health threat depends on how the world responds to COVID-19.

·      The leadership and engagement of communities, instrumental in the success of the AIDS response, has also been key in responding to COVID-19.

·      We have seen countless examples of how community activism and solidarity have, once again, been paramount in providing people affected by HIV with information, services, social protection and hope.

·      However, such solidarity cannot be the sole responsibility of communities. Governments, donors, faith leaders, civil society and each and every one of us need to contribute to making the world a healthier place.

·      His Excellency President Eric Masisi and the First Lady of Botswana have again and again shown their continued commitment to ending HIV/ AIDS.

·      The country has committed to the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, to achieving the UNAIDS Fast-Track targets by 2020, and is one of the original members of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition.

·      Since then Botswana has made significant strides in the fight to eliminate AIDS.

·      This was because the country was an early adopter of the WHO Guidelines to Test and Treat (2016); and did well in rolling-out HIV testing across the country, and rapidly scaling-up ART treatment, so that now almost all public health facilities provide antiretroviral treatment, better known as  ART.

·      Through the UN, UNAIDS jointly with WHO, PEPFAR, IOM, and UNHCR supported the Ministry of Health and Wellness to develop a policy brief, which resulted in His Excellency the President extending free treatment to non- citizens in September 2019.

·      Botswana has also done very well in preventing mother-to-child transmission with an estimated 100% coverage of pregnant women with antiretroviral medicines, and low transmission rate (2.81% in 2019) and is well on the path to eliminating MTCT.

·      Generally, testing and treatment is an important element of combination prevention, because knowing one’s status is important to enable taking appropriate measures to protect oneself from acquiring HIV, and treatment for HIV+ people with high adherence prevents transmission to their partners.

·      So that is the GOOD NEWS!

·      The challenges ahead are many. Botswana has not done as well on other elements of combination prevention.

·      New HIV infections remain high with an estimated 9500 in 2019. Botswana will clearly miss the 2020 Fast-Track target of reducing new infections by 75% by 2020, showing only a 34% reduction by 2019.

·      A recent Investment Analysis indicated that while Botswana funds almost 2/3 of the National AIDS response, less than 15% goes to HIV prevention, well below the 25% target. Further, spending on HIV prevention has been on a downward trend over the last 6 years.

·      New infections among Adolescents, Girls and Young women 15-24 years are disproportionately high so that they constitute 24% of the estimated 9 500 new infections in 2019, although they comprise only 9% of the total population. New infections among Adolescents, Boys and Young Men 15 – 24 years constitute 10% of new infections, less than half the number among girls and young women.

·      This translates to about 43 new infections per week among AGYW and 19 among ABYM. (Young women have a prevalence twice that of young men - 8.9 % vs 4.9 %)

·      Now is the moment for bold leadership for equal societies, the right to health for all and a robust and equitable global recovery.

·      This World AIDS Day join us in calling on countries to step up their efforts to achieve healthier societies. This World AIDS Day let us demand global solidarity and shared responsibility.

·      Therefore, the country really needs to prioritize and speed up the pace of implementing ALL elements of HIV combination prevention. Investing in HIV prevention still makes sense!

·      As has become more and more evident, Community Engagement is KEY to the response. Communities need to be empowered to be at the center of the HIV response. Yet, Civil Society space has been shrinking over the years due to declining funds over the years.

·      UNAIDS and partners are putting more and more emphasis on Community Led Monitoring, both qualitative and quantitative, to provide contextual and sub-national, local, information on the HIV epidemic.

·      Finally, I would like to close by assuring the stakeholders assembled here that the Joint UN Team on AIDS remains committed to assisting government and other stakeholders with technical expertise and providing normative guidance in developing key strategic documents and frameworks, as we have always done. We will use the convening power of the UN to bring stakeholders together and marshal the resources of development partners.

Ke-a-leboga