VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0074/01 0280948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280948Z JAN 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7920
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0922
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0119
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 0378
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 5042
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2924

UNCLAS GENEVA 000074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/GAC; G; IO/T; OES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KHIV EAID TBIO UNAIDS
SUBJECT: UNAIDS: CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT JOINT UN PROGRAM 
ON HIV/AIDS 
 
¶1.  Summary:  During the 23rd Joint United Nations Programme 
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) 
meeting, held December 15-17, 2008, in Geneva, the Board paid 
tribute to its outgoing leadership, adopted new governance 
rules, and held a constructive policy debate on the 
relationship between UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight 
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.   UNAIDS includes the 
UNAIDS Secretariat and the HIV/AIDS-related work of its ten 
co-sponsoring Agencies (International Labor Organization, 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN 
Children's Fund, UN Development Program, UN Educational, 
Scientific, and Cultural Organization, UN Office on Drugs and 
Crime, UN Population Fund, World Bank, World Food Program, 
and World Health Organization).  The United States concluded 
its term as chair of the Board, handing over the gavel to 
Ethiopia.  The next meeting of the PCB will be June 22-24, 
2009, in Geneva and the thematic segment will cover HIV/AIDS 
and migration issues.  End Summary. 
 
Changes in Leadership 
 
¶2.  The United States, led by U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator 
Ambassador Mark Dybul, concluded its tenure as chair of the 
UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), the governing body 
of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 
after the meeting held December 15-17, 2008, in Geneva. More 
than 300 participants and observers from UN Member States, 
international organizations, civil society, and 
nongovernmental organizations participated in the meeting. 
The PCB elected Ethiopia for a one-year term as the incoming 
Chair, the Netherlands as Vice-Chair, and Guatemala to 
continue as Rapporteur, beginning 1 January 2009. This was 
also the last meeting for retiring UNAIDS Executive Director, 
Dr. Peter Piot of Belgium, the founding leader of UNAIDS, and 
the introduction to the Board of his successor, Mr. Michel 
Sidibe of Mali. 
 
¶3.  The PCB paid tribute to Dr. Piot for his leadership and 
acknowledged his many accomplishments. In his remarks to the 
Board, Dr. Piot reflected on the response and the changes he 
has witnessed since UNAIDS began in 1996. "AIDS has been a 
powerful agent for change from exposing to overcoming 
injustices," said Dr. Piot. "Thanks to AIDS, issues around 
the health workforce crisis, health systems crisis, human 
rights issues, gay rights issues, women's rights issues, and 
gender-based violence are all on the agenda".  Many 
delegations also thanked the United States, and U.S. Global 
AIDS Coordinator in particular, for leadership at the PCB and 
more importantly for leading the dramatic expansion of the 
international response to HIV/AIDS under the President's 
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). 
 
UNAIDS and the Global Fund 
 
¶4.  The thematic session on the opening day of the meeting 
focused on the relationship between UNAIDS and the Global 
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and issues of 
linkages with the international technical support 
architecture and public-private partnerships.  The 
partnership between UNAIDS and the Global Fund is one of the 
most essential in the multilateral response to HIV/AIDS, as 
the Global Fund brings resources but no country presence and 
UNAIDS has limited resources, but in-country presence, 
technical expertise and credibility with governments to make 
the money work.  The PCB directed UNAIDS to update its 
technical support and capacity development strategy to take 
into account potential gaps in coverage, such as the relative 
lack of long-term technical support available to countries, 
and to estimate costs of UNAIDS mandates and budgets in 
support of the Global Fund. 
 
Governance Changes 
 
¶5.  Improving the effectiveness and transparency of the 
UNAIDS Board was a major priority for the United States as 
PCB Chair.  The 23rd PCB adopted several decisions that 
should have broad and long-lasting impact in this regard. 
First, delegates agreed to establish an ad interim 
subcommittee of the PCB for the preparation of the 2010-2011 
Unified Budget and Workplan (UBW), which will be prepared 
over the course of the next six months for adoption at the 
24th Meeting of the PCB in June 2009.  The total UNAIDS 
budget for the current biennium is roughly $495 million 
 
divided between the Secretariat, ten co-sponsors and field 
offices and is designed to be a results-driven budget and 
planning tool.  In addition, the Board adopted a process for 
intersessional decision making that respects UN precedent 
while maintaining the inclusive consensus-based practice at 
PCB meetings. 
 
Other key agenda items, outcomes, and recommendations 
 
¶6.  HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay and residence: 
The Board strongly encouraged all countries to eliminate 
HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay and residence and 
ensure that people living with HIV are no longer excluded, 
detained or deported on the basis of HIV status.  Building on 
a previous decision, the Board decided that no PCB meeting 
will be held in a country that imposes HIV-specific 
restrictions related to entry, stay or residence based on a 
person's HIV status. 
 
¶7.  Gender-sensitivity and guidance in the AIDS response: The 
Board requested UNAIDS to prepare a progress report for the 
24th PCB meeting detailing the work of UNAIDS in assisting 
countries in promoting gender equality, including separate 
needs assessments for women and girls and for lesbian, gay, 
bisexual and transgender communities, emphasizing 
country-level action, as well as follow-up actions, including 
the establishment of an inter-agency strategy to address HIV 
and women and girls in line with the strategy undertaken with 
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations. 
 
¶8.  Civil society involvement in the HIV/AIDS Response: The 
Board made a number of decisions designed to encourage Member 
States to consider increasing civil society involvement in 
their UNAIDS-related decision making.  In addition, the Board 
requested UNAIDS regional support teams to hold regular 
consultations with civil society and to provide a concrete 
channel through which local and regional civil society groups 
could contribute to policy making at the global level. 
 
¶9.  Recognizing the importance of the upcoming UNGASS review 
of the world drug problem, the PCB requested the UN Office of 
Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as a co-sponsor of UNAIDS, to 
promote knowledge of the need for better coordination and 
alignment of the AIDS response in order to scale up services 
for injecting drug users at the UNGASS review in Vienna. 
COMMENT: Significantly, the PCB language (now for the second 
time in two years) does not endorse or use controversial 
"harm reduction" terminology, instead sticking to consensus 
concepts of scaling up services towards the goal of universal 
access. END OF COMMENT 
 
 
STORELLA