17:30-18:30
Leaving no one behind: The rights and health of key and vulnerable populations
Venue: UN Conference Room 11
The rallying cry of the SDGs, “leave no one behind” underscores the importance of equity and of innovative and more effective strategies to ensure that health services, including for HIV, TB, and malaria, reach and address the needs of the socially and economically marginalized who continue to suffer disproportionately from the burden of these diseases. Rights-based, community-driven and gender-responsive approaches are needed to address the challenges of discrimination, stigma, violence, legal barriers, and lack of access to services faced by key populations who continue to be at most at risk and under-served. Recognizing that we cannot end AIDS and achieve universal access unless we focus on these populations, the Global Fund has just adopted a new strategy that has much greater emphasis on promoting and protecting human rights and gender equality, and on the key populations that have been left behind in many country’s responses to HIV.
This event, co-hosted by the Government of Canada, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, and the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, will focus on the importance of community in a broader and holistic response to HIV/AIDS and on new ideas, tools and approaches to strategically address the burden of HIV and related diseases that are faced by marginalized groups and key populations, including women and girls. Without this, we cannot effectively accelerate progress and turn the tide on HIV.
Focal point: Ms. Anar Mamdani (anar.mamdani@international.gc.ca)