Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Press Conference by Cesar Nunez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office, on the launch of the World AIDS Day report, Overcoming Disruption: Transforming the AIDS response.

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“The HIV epidemic is not over, and our previous progress is at risk,” warned César Antonio Núñez, Director of the UNAIDS New York Office, as the UN marked World AIDS Day with an assessment of shrinking global resources.

Briefing reporters at UN headquarters, Núñez said the findings of UNAIDS’ new Global Report: Overcoming disruption, transforming the response, point to mounting threats driven by a sharp decline in international funding. The report, launched last week in Geneva, underscores “the importance of overcoming the current disruption in the financing of the AIDS response.”

He highlighted severe pressures on countries already struggling to maintain services. “OECD projects that external health aid will drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared to 2023,” he said, adding that the cuts are “causing immediate and severe disruption to health services in low- and middle-income countries.”

Núñez said the downturn is hitting prevention and community programs first. “The resources, the response and prevention, has kind of flatlined,” he said. Treatment uptake, once rising steadily, “has also been reduced,” with consequences for “prevention programs for young people and key populations.”

These setbacks carry long-term risks, he cautioned. Without urgent corrective action, “that will take us back, 3.9 million people newly acquiring HIV by 2030, in excess of what we would have hoped to be the end of AIDS as a public health threat.”

While some governments have rushed to close gaps, Núñez said the efforts could be insufficient. “Will the funding sources that still remain and the countries filling in the gaps be enough? Not necessarily,” he said.

Countries will have to make sharper strategic choices. “Prioritization will be essential,” Núñez said.

He added, “Evidently, we point to prevention because we need to reduce the number of new infections in order to address…the growing epidemic.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbBr55SCj_c

Source: United Nations (video statements)

“Well, this exhibition—this UNIDO exhibition—has been conceptualized as an immersive journey where participants can learn about UNIDO’s work and global impact. We showcase, for example, where we are present worldwide, and we focus on our priorities and global impact. For example, we want to showcase our work on three thematic priorities, from building sustainable supply chains to ending hunger and expanding clean energy and climate action.

You can see here three alcoves where we feature several impactful projects from the organization. Here during the conference, we have launched the Fair Share programme, which is a very important initiative, but we also feature many other products that are very successful and can also be scaled up.

The next alcove shows our work on ending hunger, which is a very important topic, and the next one is about clean energy access and climate action, which is of course extremely relevant, especially when we talk about industrialization. There is also a very important section in this exhibition dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, an important area of work for UNIDO.

Women contribute to industry, they need to be part of the economy, and they are crucial in sustainable development. What you see here is just a sample of 60 women among the many women UNIDO is empowering. These 60 women are part of a campaign we are placing in communications. In total, we have 130 stories. For example, here we have Sonia Yanahi. She is an entrepreneur— a very successful one. She benefited from the EDIP programme, which is run by ITPO-Bahrain. Her dream was always to have a business in chocolate, and she established the first chocolate franchise in Bahrain. With UNIDO’s support, she is now getting a business plan approved.

We are also supporting the investment approach for her to acquire a cocoa plant in Côte d’Ivoire, where she wants to employ local communities and ensure fair trade—fair share—and standards applied to the process of chocolate export.

What you see here with a round shape—if you had a drone right now, you would see from above that it resembles the logo of the conference. It shows circularity; it shows three segments because this conference discusses mainly three topics: investment and partnerships, women’s empowerment, and youth as the generation of the future, and this resembles the logo of the conference.

And maybe I can show you as well the area of funding partners, which is of course one of the most important areas of work for our organization. We see here China, Austria, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, but we also have important non-governmental donors, such as the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O86mRqXV8-c