Alliance welcomes Sweden’s emphasis on the importance of HIV prevention

29 June 2006

Dr Peter Piot and Lennarth Hjelmaker

The Alliance joined policy makers, civil society representatives and the media at a recent meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, aiming to reinforce the critical importance of HIV prevention programming. The meeting was hosted by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in collaboration with UNAIDS and the Swedish Association for Sexual Education. It centered on setting priorities for more effective HIV prevention, including:

  • giving greater impetus to prevention programming
  • advocating for the effective use of resources available for AIDS
  • improving partnership work.

“Scaling up HIV prevention is critical for the success of the overall response to AIDS,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, giving an overview of the state of HIV prevention at the meeting. “Important progress has been made, but unfortunately it is not enough.”

“Sweden’s recognition of the centrality of HIV prevention is welcome,” said Alliance policy adviser Joseph O’Reilly. “Every day nearly 14,000 people around the world become infected with HIV which amounts to nearly 5 million new infections a year. An effective response requires access to both HIV treatment and prevention services. In this context, Sweden’s leadership to build global prevention efforts is extremely important.”

“But recognising the importance of HIV prevention is only the first step,” said Carin Jämtin, Minister for International Development Cooperation in Sweden, speaking at the meeting. “Translating the recognition into reality on the ground is something else. To move forward on prevention we need open eyes and open minds.”

O’Reilly echoed this, saying: “As we scale up the response to AIDS we need to constantly revisit the essential principles which need to drive that response, including an openness and honesty about sensitive issues such as sex and drug use.”

Sweden’s contribution to the AIDS response, including its support of the Alliance, has increased dramatically in the past few years. Sweden is one of the principal funders of the Alliance’s innovative Africa Regional Programme, which focuses on building the capacity of civil society to respond to HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. With Sida’s collaboration and support, the Alliance is starting a new country programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo. New community-focused capacity building also started this year in Burkina Faso.