Two years after the adoption of an ambitious, but achievable Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030 and the setting of ambitious interim targets for 2025 that the world would need to achieve if we are to reach the 2030 HIV targets within the Sustainable Development Goals, many countries are demonstrating that these targets can be achieved. While progress is widespread, it remains uneven. 2024 must be a year of deep and critical reflection on how to ensure a resilient long‐term HIV response that ensures impact through continued and sustained reduction in new HIV infections and HIV‐related deaths and mitigates the risks of resurgence.
This is a pivotal moment in the global HIV response. It is therefore a unique opportunity to articulate the pathway to success in the HIV response to 2030 and start looking beyond. UNAIDS in close collaboration with its partners have joined efforts towards a new sustainability framework. Under the leadership of governments with their plans, UNAIDS will coordinate efforts to hold HIV response sustainability dialogues and assessments, leading to prepare synthesis sustainability roadmaps by end 2024. The main novelty in this approach and framework is to focus on identifying the transformations needed in the programmatic, policy and financial dimensions of the response in a post-2030 context which, include strengthening of health systems, well crafted integration of the HIV response within those, and multisectoral and policy aspects, such as community systems and human rights policies and challenges.
To provide oversight and ensure a reflective iterative learning across geographies, we are standing up a UNAIDS Advisory Committee (AC) on Sustainability of the HIV Response. The Committee is expected to be a multi-sectorial body that protects country ownership and leadership while providing guidance, consistency and oversight to the multi-country process, inclusive of sustainability dialogues, assessments and roadmap implementation as needed. The AC will not oversee individual country HIV response roadmaps.
The AC members will provide independent non-binding advice on the overall design and approach to HIV Response Sustainability Dialogues, assessments and Roadmaps and implementation, including providing feedback and suggestions regarding:
The AC members will not be expected to review individual country HIV response sustainability roadmaps.
The Committee will be co-chaired by two high level personalities, noted for their contributions to the HIV response and will be supported by a hands-on Secretariat to ensure its functioning, preparatory works and translation of discussions into action.
The Committee will include in its membership a range of stakeholders working in HIV epidemiology, AIDS response programmatic components, HIV, health and social sector financing, human rights, and community response, as well as representatives of UNAIDS Cosponsors, the Global Fund, PEPFAR, civil society, people living with HIV, key, and vulnerable populations. Committee membership is nominative, and members are institutionally independent from UNAIDS. The proposed membership is as follows:
Advisory committee membership is nominative, and members are institutionally independent from UNAIDS.
The Advisory Committee will be supported by a hands-on Secretariat to guide the process for developing country-led Sustainability Roadmap for the HIV Response, with UNAIDS Secretariat, PEPFAR, the Global Fund and open to other members to join.
Members of the Advisory Committee Secretariat
Michael Ruffner is the Deputy Coordinator for Financial and Programmatic Sustainability in the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (S/GAC) at U.S. Department of State since October 2006 where he is working to better integrate and improve the effectiveness of existing funding for HIV, while working with countries to improve their ability to operate and finance their HIV response independently. From 2014 to 2016, he was the Director Financial Sustainability at the U.S Department of State, PEPFAR and an Administrator at OECD from 2000 to 2005. Mr Rufner is currently S/GAC chair for the Kenya and Lesotho programs. In addition to his functional and programmatic responsibilities, Michael is the chair of the Board of Directors’ Audit and Finance Committee of the Global Fund for the Fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Melissa Sobers currently serves as an Adviser, HIV Financing Policy at UNAIDS since June 2023. Ms Sobers has been with UNAIDS for 14 years in various roles and duty stations including Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Nigeria, Geneva and Kenya. Previously, she served as a Policy and Strategy Adviser in the Executive Office, Senior Adviser Programme Planning and Monitoring, Im¬plementation Adviser (supporting the implementation of PEPFAR/GF resources) for the UNAIDS Country Office in Nigeria and Regional Adviser. Investment and Efficiency, covering nine countries in the Caribbean. Ms Sobers completed undergraduate studies in Biotechnology and Statistics from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica and postgraduate studies in Actuarial Science and International Health Technology Assessments.
Members will be appointed to serve for an 18 months-time period from January 2024 to June 2025. The Committee is expected to meet face-to-face twice during this period and virtually quarterly for regular status updates. The members will participate on a pro-bono basis; however, the cost of travel and per diem to participate in face-to-face meetings will be covered. The membership of the UNAIDS Advisory Committee on Sustainability of the HIV Response is as follows: