10%

Rights not barriers

Driving progress on HIV 10-10-10 targets

November 29^th, 2024

Two decades ago, HIV infections were at their peak and the pandemic seemed unstoppable. Treatment was expensive and available only for the privileged few.

Since then, the picture has changed significantly. More affordable life-saving anti-retroviral medicines have allowed millions to live longer, healthier lives. Health outreach and innovations have improved prevention and testing coverage.

“The success of the response to HIV to date is one to celebrate. While there is more to be done...it is important to recognize this collective achievement.”

– United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, “The Path to Ending AIDS Progress Report”

Progress should not be confused with success.

Social, cultural and legal barriers continue to limit access to HIV services. These challenges are particularly acute for people left furthest behind.

In part due to the success of HIV treatment and viral suppression, for the first time the majority of new HIV infections are outside sub-Saharan Africa. Eighty percent of these are in key populations and their sexual partners. Marginalised populations remain at the highest risk of HIV. And while infections have declined more for women than men, HIV among adolescent girls and young women is more than three times higher than men in sub-Saharan Africa.

UNDP works to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 through our role as a founding Cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS , our partnership with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and our broader health and development work.

In Pakistan, UNDP and its local partners are increasing public awareness and training healthcare providers to deliver services regardless of HIV status, identity or social attributes. Photo: The Global Fund/Vincent Becker

Our work supports countries to achieve their commitments under the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, including the 10-10-10 targets, in which countries pledged that by 2025:

Less than 10 percent of countries should have punitive legal and policy environments that deny or limit services
Less than 10 percent of people living with HIV and key populations will experience stigma and discrimination
Less than 10 percent of women, girls, people living with HIV and key populations will experience gender inequality and violence

Removing barriers to HIV services

What UNDP is doing?

Laws and policies grounded in evidence contribute to better HIV and health outcomes.

In Tajikistan, UNDP supported civil society and the Supreme Court to encourage judicial practice that follows the evidence showing that people effectively treated for HIV cannot transmit it sexually.

Advocates hope the resulting Supreme Court resolution could pave the way to removing a law that disproportionately punishes women living with HIV.

UNDP convenes judges in Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia in order to advance knowledge, judicial ethics for better HIV responses that respect dignity and leave no one behind.

“Judges as members of an independent arm of the state – the judiciary – have a role to play in ensuring that the marginalized and the vulnerable are accorded the rights that are promised to them in our constitutions: the right to human dignity, the right against discrimination and the right to life.”

– Justice Key Dingake, Botswana, founding member of the Africa Regional Judges Forum.

UNDP convenes judges in Africa to advance knowledge and judicial ethics for better HIV responses that respect dignity. Photo: UNDP

Stigma, discrimination and inclusion

What UNDP is doing?

“It’s terrifying to tell someone about your diagnosis. When you meet someone new, you have to go through it all over again. You have to relive the moment when they either accept or reject you,”

– Elena Rastokina, mother and founder of ‘Answer’ in Kazakhstan, an NGO for women affected by HIV, including those who use drugs.

Rejection can have deadly consequences. In Pakistan, people can be denied healthcare. UNDP and local partners are increasing public awareness and training healthcare providers to deliver services regardless of HIV status, identity or social attributes.

In Morocco, Ayoub, once a beneficiary himself, now leads advocacy for the South AIDS Association to provide essential care for marginalized communities. “We need to continue to educate and raise awareness, advocate for access to healthcare and resources, and challenge stigma and discrimination towards key populations,” he says.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, UNDP supports local LGBTIQ+ communities to shape policies to be free from stigma and discrimination, including the development of Guatemala’s first-ever LGBTIQ+ policy.

"Youth have played a prominent role in this whole process, and their voice is crucial to moving towards a more just and inclusive future."

– Madelyn Miray, Lambda Association and Observatory of Human Rights and Violence by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Guatemala.

Gender-based inequality and violence

What UNDP is doing?

Exclusion and gender-based inequities can fuel physical and sexual violence, exposing people to HIV and reducing access to justice and health.

“A group of people approached me as I was walking home, and they beat me up until I was black and blue. My ID says I’m male, yet I present as a female, and I fear that I’d have to explain this to the police.”

– Princie Hlophe, a transgender woman, Eswatini.

“I was happy to be met by professional police who were only interested in how best they could support me,” she added.

With support from UNDP and LGBTIQ+ group Rock of Hope Eswatini, community paralegals and trained police officers help people like Princie access justice.

In Pakistan, UNDP and local partners support sensitivity training to reduce violence against sex workers and increase legal aid for women with HIV and other key populations experiencing gender-based violence.

In India, UNDP and communities are helping transgender people access public services with new ID cards from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment that reflect their identities.

“The Transgender Identity Card will help trans people access healthcare, get ration cards to procure subsidized grain, open bank accounts, get driving licenses – a long chain of documents that open opportunities.”

– Reshma Prasad, founder of DOSTANASAFAR

Beyond commitment

Funding, solidarity and action

Investment in HIV is declining, jeopardizing fragile gains and threatening progress on endings AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. In 2023, funding in low- and middle-income countries totalled US$19.8 billion, well below the $29 billion needed annually by 2025. In the same year, only 2.6 percent went to those most affected, with resources for the 10-10-10 targets falling woefully short as well.

UNDP urges partners and donors to support low- and middle-income countries in their effort to reach the $29 billion funding goal by 2025 and to plan for the sustainability of HIV efforts.