Founding Declaration of the Global Parliamentary Platform on HIV/AIDS

The following declaration was signed by 370 parliamentarians from 45 countries ahead of an official launch on 24 July 2024 at the IAS AIDS2024 conference in Munich:

 I, as an elected representative and global citizen, recognizing that every person has the right to good health and wellbeing, do hereby declare:

  • Each of the more than 40 million lives lost to AIDS-related illness is an immeasurable tragedy.

  • Over 40 million people are living with HIV, over 9 million of whom do not have access to treatment, and require and have our solidarity.

  • Globally, in 2022, 1.3 million people newly acquired HIV, and AIDS-related illness still claims a life every minute.

  • HIV transmission is driven by inequality, discrimination and stigma and disproportionately impacts key, marginalized, and vulnerable populations and people in low- and middle-income countries.

  • The global HIV response has slowed, with progress now at an unacceptable pace.

  • Investing in the HIV response contributes to the strengthening of health systems, pandemic preparedness, gender equality, and economic opportunity.

  • Greater political and financial investment in the global HIV response is critical to getting the response back on track, at a time when colliding crises of climate change, conflict and attacks on human rights risk undermining the response further.

  • Inequitable access to existing HIV prevention and treatment medication is holding back the HIV response, and governments and pharmaceutical companies must act to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to the medicines they need.

  • The world needs a model of research and development that is driven by public health needs and will support and enhance existing pipelines of desperately needed new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines, and ensure that new treatments are accessible and affordable for all who need them.

  • People living with HIV and vulnerable groups must be placed at the heart of the global response. We commit to supporting the engagement of communities and civil society groups in every aspect of HIV prevention, detection, and treatment, and giving them a stronger voice. We must put people first!

Consequently, I HEREBY COMMIT to participate in the new joint global parliamentary platform on HIV and AIDS, to build the necessary democratic and political pressure for a more effective and determined global HIV response.

In doing so, I pledge to work alongside key organizations working on the global response including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid, the WHO, UNAIDS, and others. I will do this with support from the Platform Secretariat comprised of the UNITE - Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, the Global Equality Caucus, and the Global TB Caucus, and in coordination with other founding partners of the Platform; UNAIDS, IAS - the International AIDS Society, STOPAIDS, WACI Health, and the Regional Parliamentarians Task Force on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Health in Africa, as well as wider civil society and communities across the world to end HIV transmissions and AIDS.

Together, we will all get the global HIV and AIDS response back on track and achieve one of humanity’s greatest shared triumphs: achieving a world in which HIV no longer presents a threat to public health and individual well-being.