US Mission Geneva

Funding and building the capacity of community-based and civil society organizations is absolutely crucial to ensuring that no one is left behind.

On World AIDS Day, we commemorate the lives lost and communities devastated by HIV/AIDS. We also celebrate those lives that have been saved and the courageous individuals who have brought hope and healing to those living with and affected by this disease.

New PEPFAR data show for the first time that the AIDS epidemic is becoming controlled in older adults and babies in three key African countries – Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – where the program has significantly invested. New pediatric HIV infections globally have declined by nearly 70 percent since 2000, and there are significant validated declines in adult HIV incidence across Malawi (76 percent), Zambia (51 percent), and Zimbabwe (67 percent) since 2003.

The GHSA is a signature global health and national security priority for President Obama. It was launched in 2014 – before the first cases of Ebola in West Africa came to light – due to leadership of the United States and partners from every region of the world. In only three years, the GHSA has sparked historic commitments and kindled new momentum to establish global capacity to address devastating outbreaks – whether naturally occurring, deliberate, or accidental.

President Obama: “We must reject any forms of fundamentalism, or racism, or a belief in ethnic superiority that makes our traditional identities irreconcilable with modernity.”

The United States is the first and largest donor to the Global Fund. On August 31, 2016, the United States committed up to $4.3 billion through 2019 to the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment, subject to Congressional appropriations.

Breastfeeding is one of the most cost effective ways to save the lives of children and improve their future ability to grow, learn, and thrive as members of their community. According to a recentLancet series, the deaths of 823,000 children and 20,000 mothers each year could be averted through scaling up optimal breastfeeding practices to nearly universal levels, along with economic savings of US$ 300 billion.

Over the past eight years, President Obama has elevated sustainable development to a core pillar of American foreign policy. On Wednesday July 20th, the President will host the White House Summit on Global Development, bringing together development leaders, public and private sector financing partners, civil society, diplomats, and entrepreneurs to mark our global progress and catalyze further development efforts.

Ambassador Samantha Power: If we are to have any hope of accomplishing the SDGs – which includes a target to end the AIDS epidemic, we have to guard space for civil society both within our own countries and here at the United Nations.