UNESCO’s Strategy for HIV and AIDS

There has been considerable progress across the world in responding to HIV and AIDS. Yet, the number of people newly infected with HIV continues to rise in many countries, and AIDS is still a leading cause of adult mortality. Treatment has become more widely available, but the costs for individuals and countries remain signifi cant, and the sustainability of treatment is a serious concern.

This situation calls for sharper efforts to reverse the epidemic and to ensure that all those in need receive treatment and care. The stakes are high. If we fail to respond effectively to HIV and AIDS, we will fall far short of the Education for All objectives and the Millennium development Goals. We will fail to meet our collective commitment to promoting human rights, gender equality and social justice.

UNESCO is fully engaged with meeting this challenge. Responding to HIV and AIDS has been and remains a high priority for action throughout all of our work, from Headquarters and in the fi eld. HIV prevention lies at the heart of our efforts – to reduce the number of people newly infected with HIV and the human and fi nancial costs of the epidemic.

All parts of the Organization are mobilized, working at the global, regional and country levels, through activities that are culturally appropriate, gender transformative and evidence-based. This  crossdisciplinary approach is our signature strength, and it is well-suited for tackling HIV and AIDS.

This new UNESCO Strategy for HIV and AIDS builds on longstanding experience, and has been updated to reflect the need to accelerate  Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to adapt to an evolving epidemic and a changing global environment. This is our overarching goal. It is aligned with our action on gender equality and in Africa, and built into our overall Medium Term Strategy.

With this goal in mind, UNESCO will structure its work around three strategic priorities – to build country capacity for effective and sustainable education responses to HIV, to strengthen comprehensive HIV and sexuality education, and to advance gender equality and protect human rights. Drawing on the Organization’s unique mandate in education, the sciences, culture and communication, these priorities will guide our contribution to UNAIDS Strategy and Outcome Framework 2011-2015, in line with UNESCO’s role within the revised UNAIDS Division of Labour.

Our goals are clear. We will provide greater emphasis to HIV prevention in the context of wider health promotion. We will seek to ensure that all girls and boys, young women and men, in and out of formal education, have access to comprehensive HIV education. We will strengthen the implementation and monitoring of education responses, and we will tackle the gender and human rights issues that hinder effective responses to HIV and AIDS.

We will continue to mobilise resources for our action through our regular budget and from extra-budgetary sources – such as the UNAIDS Unifi ed Budget, Results and Accountability Framework and the private sector. We will seek also to build on these, by diversifying funding sources and by identifying additional resources across all sectors and at all levels of the Organization.

The result of an extensive consultative process, this Strategy reflects UNESCO’s united and targeted vision of how we will contribute most to prevent the further spread of HIV, to protect individuals, families and societies from the impact of AIDS, and to advance human rights and dignity for all.