Defeating AIDS—advancing global health

After more than a decade of major achievements, the AIDS response is at a crucial juncture, both in terms of its immediate trajectory and its sustainability, as well as its place in the new global health and development agendas. In May, 2013, the UNAIDS–Lancet Commission—a diverse group of experts in HIV, health, and development, young people, people living with HIV and affected communities, activists, and political leaders—was established to investigate how the AIDS response could evolve in a new era of sustainable development. The UNAIDS–Lancet Commission has come together at a moment when the lessons of the AIDS response, including its whole-of-society perspective, can be informative and even transformational for other spheres of global health. The path to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, as set out in this report, should be a major part of the post-2015 development agenda. AIDS and global health: the path to sustainable development“If we are to go forwards we must go back and rediscover those precious values…” Martin Luther King Full-Text PDF The sustainable development agenda and the end of AIDS2015 marks a pivotal turn in development debate and practice. In September, UN member states are expected to endorse a bold agenda that will guide social, economic, and environmental action over the next 15 years. The agenda, built around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), signals a transformational shift towards society-wide, people-centred approaches. The universality and breadth of the sustainable development agenda will demand an overhaul in how countries, sectors, and issue-specific groups work together. Full-Text PDF Cuba: defeating AIDS and advancing global healthOn June 30, Cuba became the world's first country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV. As WHO Director-General Margaret Chan noted, this achievement is a “major victory” and “an important step towards having an AIDS-free generation”. Full-Text PDF Michel Sidibé: working to end AIDS as a public health threatMichel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, has the storyteller's persuasive powers. He recounts a turning point in his life, when he had been charged with responsibility by UNICEF for promoting immunisation in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In those days, he says, it was hard to get an audience with the President, then Mobutu Sese Seko, but Sidibé persuaded the local governor to admit him, arguing that all he needed was 3 minutes of the President's time. Sidibé found Mobutu sitting with President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Buyoya of Burundi. Full-Text PDF Department of ErrorPiot P, Abdool Karim SS, Hecht R, et al. Defeating AIDS—advancing global health. Lancet 2015; 386: 171–218—In this Commission, the last sentence of the section on commodity security should read “As a result, the Equitable Access Initiative was launched by the Global Fund and others to develop a more refined health classification framework to protect countries from the public health disadvantages of reaching middle-income status.” Reference 136 has been corrected. These corrections have been made to the online version as of July 10, 2015, and the printed version is correct. Full-Text PDF Defeating AIDS but missing childrenWe welcome the report Defeating AIDS—advancing global health (July 11, p 171).1 The Commission generated four scenarios, providing a blueprint for forward thinking on the AIDS response. However, there is a gaping omission. We note within the 48 page document the word child/children appears 44 times. Ten within the references. Of the 34 mentions in the body of the text, 31 refer to “mother-to-child”. The other three times are rightful lamentations of slow roll out and inadequate treatment formulations for children. Full-Text PDF