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UNAIDS - Press Conference: Launch of World AIDS Day Report 2024
Respect for everyone's human rights is essential to ending HIV, says UNAIDS
Despite huge progress, the world is not yet on track to end AIDS as a public health threat, the UN agency said on Tuesday. Of the 39.9 million people living with HIV, 9.3 million people are still not accessing life-saving treatment. Last year, 630 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses, and 1.3 million people around the world newly acquired HIV. In at least 28 countries, the number of new HIV infections is on the rise. To bring down the trajectory of the pandemic, it is imperative that lifesaving programmes can be reached without fear by all who need them.
When girls are denied education; when there is impunity for gender-based violence; when people can be arrested for who they are, or who they love; when a visit to health services is dangerous for people because of the community they are from—the result is that people are blocked from being able to access HIV services that are essential to save their lives and to end the AIDS pandemic. To protect everyone’s health, we need to protect everyone’s rights.
Science continues to innovate against AIDS. Long-acting medicines that only need to be injected a few times a year could tip the scales but only if a human rights approach is taken to share the technology to bring down prices and enable production in every part of the world.
UNAIDS new report brings together the latest research, case studies, and recommendations for getting the world on track. It includes guest essays by Elton John, by Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, by Irish President Michael D. Higgins, by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and by former President of the International AIDS Society Adeeba Kamarulzaman amongst others. It provides a clear roadmap: Take the rights path to end AIDS.
Source: UNTV CH
Restrictions: NONE
Language: English/French/NATS
Dateline: 27 November 2024 Geneva, Switzerland
TRT: 3:06
Speakers:
- Christine Stegling, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS
- Axel Bautista, Community Engagement Manager, MPact, Mexico City
- Alexandra Calmy, Head of HIV Services, Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland
- Jeanne Gapiya-Niyonzima, Chair of the National Association for Support for HIV+ people living with AIDS, Burundi
- Berthilde Gahongayire, Regional Director, West and Central Africa region, UNAIDS
SHOTLIST
- Wide UN Geneva Press Room with panellists
- Moderator (wearing red ribbon) speaking with panellists
- Christine Stegling holding up report
- SOT (English) -- Christine Stegling, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS
- “We have come so far in the HIV response. Progress has been driven by biomedical advances, and advances in the protection of human rights and by community activism but big gaps remain in the protection of human rights and these gaps are keeping the world from getting on the path that ends AIDS.”
- CU Photographer, Medium-wide press room, two photographers
- SOT (French) Alexandra Calmy, Head of HIV Services, Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland “L’année 2024 a été marquée par une véritable révolution dans le domaine de la prévention du VIH. Je pèse mes mots : une révolution, comparable à celle que nous avons connue en 1996 avec l’avènement des trithérapies. Des études ont en effet démontré que deux injections annuelles (lenacapavir) permettent de protéger presque entièrement une population de jeunes femmes particulièrement à risque d’acquisition du VIH en Afrique subsaharienne. Cette avancée est remarquable dans un domaine où aucun vaccin n’est actuellement disponible, et où aucun vaccin ne semble prêt à l’être dans les cinq prochaines années. Cette révolution dans la prévention mérite d’être saluée et accompagnée, afin qu’elle soit rendue accessible et disponible dans les meilleurs délais pour les populations concernées.” English translation: “The year 2024 has been marked by a true revolution in HIV prevention. I weigh my words carefully: a revolution, comparable to the breakthrough of combination therapies in 1996. Indeed, studies have shown that two annual injections (lenacapavir) can almost completely protect a population of young women at high risk of acquiring HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. This advancement is remarkable in a field where no vaccine is currently available and none is expected to be ready in the next five years. This revolution in prevention deserves to be celebrated and supported so that it can be made accessible and available as quickly as possible to vulnerable populations.”
- Wide Panellists with Alexandra Calmy in monitors
- Axel Bautista, Community Engagement Manager, MPact, Mexico City (English) “In 63 countries same sexual relations are criminalized. People living with HIV continue to be criminalized. Criminalization exacerbates fear, persecution, hate, violence and discrimination and it has a negative impact on public health. Queer people are left vulnerable, at increased risk, feeling isolated and excluded. Criminalization means more people will be in danger and more lives will end. We cannot end HIV unless we end criminalization.”
- Axel finishing and leaving podium
- Jeanne Gapiya-Niyonzima, Chair of the National Association for Support for HIV+ people living with AIDS, Burundi (French) “Lorsque Guy Bertrand, mon bébé, a été (en 1986), diagnostiqué séropositif, le médecin l’a chassé de l’hôpital pour aller mourir à la maison. Il fallait qu’il libère la place pour d’autres enfants qui pouvaient être sauvés. Plus tard un autre médecin, sans mon consentement, m’a enlevé l’utérus ... j’ai eu l’impression qu’on m’a volé ma féminité à l'âge tendre de 25 ans. On peut terminer, on peut en finir avec le VIH mais la voie royale pour y arriver ça sera la voie des droits.” English translation: “When my baby, Guy Bertrand was diagnosed with HIV (in 1986), the doctor chased him away from the hospital to die at home. He wanted to free up space to make room for other kids who could be treated. Aftewards another doctor took out my uterus at the tender age of 25. I felt robbed of my femininity. We can end AIDS, finish it but there is only one way and this is by respecting human rights.” Editor’s note: In 1986, there was no HIV treatment thus a person born or living with HIV had no way to live a long and healthy life. Currently, when an HIV+ woman takes her antiretroviral medicine, she can give birth to an HIV- baby (she will not transmit the virus during pregnancy, or breastfeeding.)
- Wide panellists, Moderator thanking Jeanne
- Wide press conference room
Respect for everyone's human rights is essential to ending HIV, says UNAIDS
Despite huge progress, the world is not yet on track to end AIDS as a public health threat, the UN agency said on Tuesday. Of the 39.9 million people living with HIV, 9.3 million people are still not accessing life-saving treatment. Last year, 630 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses, and 1.3 million people around the world newly acquired HIV. In at least 28 countries, the number of new HIV infections is on the rise. To bring down the trajectory of the pandemic, it is imperative that lifesaving programmes can be reached without fear by all who need them.
When girls are denied education; when there is impunity for gender-based violence; when people can be arrested for who they are, or who they love; when a visit to health services is dangerous for people because of the community they are from—the result is that people are blocked from being able to access HIV services that are essential to save their lives and to end the AIDS pandemic. To protect everyone’s health, we need to protect everyone’s rights.
Science continues to innovate against AIDS. Long-acting medicines that only need to be injected a few times a year could tip the scales but only if a human rights approach is taken to share the technology to bring down prices and enable production in every part of the world.
UNAIDS new report brings together the latest research, case studies, and recommendations for getting the world on track. It includes guest essays by Elton John, by Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, by Irish President Michael D. Higgins, by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and by former President of the International AIDS Society Adeeba Kamarulzaman amongst others. It provides a clear roadmap: Take the rights path to end AIDS.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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