Cosponsors •
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) •
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) •
World Food Programme (WFP) •
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) •
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) •
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) •
International Labour Organization (ILO) •
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) •
World Health Organization (WHO) •
World Bank •
UN Women The co-sponsors and the UNAIDS Secretariat form the Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations, which meets twice each year.
Leadership The executive director of UNAIDS is
Winnie Byanyima, who assumed the role on 1 November 2019.
Peter Piot was the first executive director of UNAIDS. He served from its inception in 1995 until 2008, when he departed to lead the Institute for Global Health at
Imperial College London. On 1 January 2009,
Michel Sidibé became the new executive director of UNAIDS until 2019 when he was appointed as Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Mali.
Partnerships The United Nations Declaration Commitment on HIV/AIDS provides the guiding framework for UNAIDS action. Promoting partnerships among various stakeholders is reflected within the leadership section of the Declaration of Commitment. In particular, it calls for complementation of government efforts by the full and active participation of civil society, the business community and the private sector through: • Establishing and strengthening mechanisms that involve civil society including faith-based organizations (FBOs), the private sector, and people living with HIV/AIDS at all levels • Encouraging and supporting local and national organizations to expand and strengthen regional partnerships, coalitions and networks • Full participation of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), those in vulnerable groups and people mostly at risk, particularly young people • Addressing issue of
stigma and
discrimination. UNAIDS works to promote partnerships among and between this diverse and broad range of non-state entities. This calls for increases in both the number of new actors, as well as in innovative ways of working, to facilitate increased capacity of non-state entities to respond effectively to the epidemic at all levels. With the momentum generated by the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the main challenges are to: • Sustain and deepen involvement of those contributing and critical to the response such as PLWHA organizations • Move beyond the organizations already involved and reach out to optimally engage a broad range of sectors/actors. UNAIDS has collaborated with the Roman
Catholic Church, especially
Caritas Internationalis, in the fight against AIDS, something which materialized in a December 2005 message by Pope Benedict XVI. However, it indicated in a 2009 communiqué that it did not agree with the Pope's statement that condoms were unhelpful in AIDS prevention, instead calling them "essential".
From policy to action In engaging non-state entities in an expanded response to the epidemic, the UNAIDS Secretariat: • Fosters and supports global, regional and country level partnerships which include linkages between and among civil society, private sector, philanthropy, media, and with particular attention to organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS • Supports governments and UN agencies in developing partnerships with non-state entities. This includes support for approaches intended to increase participation, improve connectedness of efforts and strengthen the various participants' capacity for action.
Donors As the main advocate for global action on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS leads, strengthens and supports an expanded response aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV, providing care and support, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS, and alleviating the impact of the epidemic. To fulfil this mandate, UNAIDS is supported by voluntary contributions from governments, foundations, corporations, private groups (for example, students, universities, sporting clubs, etc.) and individuals. In 2003, more than US$118.5 million was received from 30 governments, philanthropic organizations, individuals from around the world and others. The largest donors were the Netherlands followed by Norway, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Japan. In 2004, 35 governments contributed to UNAIDS including India. In 2020 UNAIDS received US$ 247.2 million in 2020, in voluntary donations. In 2021, US$ 171.4 million in core funding was made available by twenty-seven governments, with the US leading donating $45,000,000, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands. In addition, In 2021, non-core resources amounting to US$ 75.9 million were made available to UNAIDS, led by the US, with $53,807,294, followed by the UNFPA and Russia. A month later, Australia agreed to a five year partnership with UNAIDS, committing AUD 25 million from 2022 to 2027 to the cause. == UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors ==