Interactive Multi-Stakeholder Hearing as part of the preparatory process for the 2026 High-level meeting on HIV/AIDS

Interactive Multi-Stakeholder Hearing as part of the preparatory process for the 2026 High-level meeting on HIV/AIDS

14 May 2026, New York - Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States at the Interactive Multi-Stakeholder Hearing as part of the preparatory process for the 2026 High-level meeting on HIV/AIDS, delivered by Renaud Savignat, EU Delegation to the UN.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its 27 Member States.

We thank the organisers for this timely multi-stakeholder hearing as we prepare for the 2026 High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. The EU and its Member States remain steadfast in our commitment to ending AIDS as public health threats by 2030. To achieve this, we must act with urgency, solidarity, and evidence-based determination.

UN Members should scale up their efforts and follow up on international and national targets adapted to their respective contexts, aiming to contribute to achieving global commitments, including the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and the priorities of the Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031.

2026 must be a turning point, ensuring the sustainability of the global response to HIV/AIDS amid the UNAIDS transition and the integration of the response within the UN system and beyond, while also taking into account the reform of the Global Health Architecture. The Political Declaration we adopt must be action-oriented, measurable, and based on evidence, human rights and gender equality, with an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health and rights in accordance with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the ICPD and the outcomes of their review conferences. It should build on past commitments, including the 2021 Political Declaration, while addressing persistent gaps - particularly in prevention, screening, testing, and care - and ensure tackling the major barriers. The EU and its Member States call for three urgent priorities to be reflected in the Political Declaration in order to drive progress:

First, the Political Declaration should reaffirm our joint political commitment to multilateralism and our collective goal to end AIDS by 2030. This is non-negotiable. This requires increased country ownership, accelerated, human rights-based action - especially for key populations, persons in vulnerable situations, including adolescent girls and young women, and broader affected communities in all their diversity - and keeping HIV/AIDS high on global health, development, and humanitarian agendas. We must leverage synergies with tuberculosis, hepatitis, HPV, and other sexually transmitted infections, integrating prevention, treatment and care to reduce broader health burdens, as well as with mental health and psychosocial support. Sustained and innovative action at community, national, regional and international level calls for voluntary collaboration, engagement and partnerships among governments, civil society organisations, key populations, youth, the scientific community, academic and research institutions, the private sector, the philanthropies, international organisations, and people living with, at risk of and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Second, the Political Declaration should accelerate prevention, testing, and treatment while driving innovation and sustainable financing. We must scale up equitable access to HIV PrEP, including long-acting options and combination prevention tailored to local needs, and strengthen integration of HIV services with comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare services, maternal care, primary health care, child and newborn and tuberculosis programmes. Moreover, gaps in testing, retention in care, and cross-border continuity, including in humanitarian settings, need to be closed. The Political Declaration should also promote innovation in research and development, respect international rules and their key principle of voluntary transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, and secure sustainable financing through a mapping of national and global resources, to support the transition towards health sovereignty, and increased domestic financing, in close collaboration with community-led HIV organisations and other relevant civil society organisations and partners.

Third, the Political Declaration should encourage Member States to fight inequalities, including gender inequality, intersecting discrimination, and stigma, promote social participation and strengthen community-led responses. Community-led and other civil society organizations need to be integrated into national strategies and service delivery in order to ensure sustainable funding for community-led services, and support low-threshold, person-centred models of care. The Political Declaration must also be firmly grounded in science and evidence. This means, among others, 1) removing punitive and discriminatory laws, policies and practices that block equitable access to services, 2) combatting stigma and discrimination in healthcare, workplaces, and education, and 3) ensuring universal access to quality and affordable comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, education, including evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education, and health-care services, in order to achieve universal health coverage.

Excellencies,

The window to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is closing. The 2026 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS must commit to accelerated, inclusive and coordinated action - rooted in science and evidence, solidarity, accountability, past gains and experience, human rights and respect for international rules. The EU and its Member States continue to firmly uphold our dedication to multilateral cooperation and ongoing global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat and its related stigma and discrimination to ensure no one is left behind. We will engage constructively and actively in the negotiations on the Political Declaration and the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS and stand ready to cooperate with all stakeholders to achieve an ambitious outcome. Let us seize this opportunity to recommit, refocus, and deliver - for everyone, everywhere.

Thank you.