Nigerian CSOs Reject UN’s Proposal To Scrap UNAIDS

A conjugation of Nigerian assemblage networks and civilian nine organisations (CSOs) has powerfully condemned a United Nations’ connection to signifier retired the Joint United Nations Programme connected HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) by the extremity of 2026, informing that specified a determination could reverse decades of hard-won advancement successful the combat against HIV.

The coalition, made up of groups representing radical surviving with HIV, women, youth, and cardinal populations, described the proposal, portion of the UN80 betterment initiative, arsenic “ill-timed, dangerously shortsighted, and a betrayal of communities surviving with and affected by HIV.”

While acknowledging that planetary HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths person declined implicit the past decades, the conjugation emphasised that the epidemic was acold from over. They warned that dismantling UNAIDS would undermine planetary solidarity, weaken donor confidence, including enactment from partners specified arsenic PEPFAR and the Global Fund—and derail efforts to conscionable the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) people of ending AIDS arsenic a nationalist wellness menace by 2030.

“UNAIDS remains the lone UN bureau that places communities and civilian nine astatine the bosom of its mandate. To dismantle it is to betray the precise radical it was created to serve, particularly women, young people, and cardinal populations who proceed to beryllium connected its leadership, advocacy, and convening power,” the conjugation said successful a associated statement.

The groups besides raised concerns astir unanswered questions from the proposal, including who would instrumentality connected the captious relation of coordinating the planetary HIV response, and whether the UN was retreating from its long-standing committedness to ending AIDS.

Calling for urgent intervention, the conjugation urged the UN Secretary-General and Member-States to cull the proposal, fortify UNAIDS’ mandate, and support the integrity of the HIV effect wrong the broader UN betterment process.

“We basal acceptable to prosecute with the UN and Member States to co-create solutions that sphere UNAIDS’ bequest and guarantee nary 1 is near behind,” the connection added.

The entreaty was endorsed by six large organisations: the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS successful Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Nigeria Key Population Health and Rights Network (NKPHRN), International Community of Women Living with HIV – West Africa (ICW-WA), Association of Women Living with HIV and AIDS successful Nigeria (ASWHAN), Association of Positive Youth Living with HIV and AIDS successful Nigeria (APYIN), and the Civil Society Network for HIV and AIDS successful Nigeria (CiSHAN).