July 19, 2016 | Funding the Fight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Funding Drop Threatens Global AIDS Response

MEDIA ADVISORY

EXPERTS WARN OF SIGNIFICANT EPIDEMIOLOGICAL IMPACT

When: 19 July 2016, 12 noon SAST

Where: International AIDS Conference, Durban Convention Center, Press Conference Room 1

Speakers:

Mr. Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS
Dr. Chris Beyrer, President, International AIDS Society & Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, President-Elect, International AIDS Society & Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town
Dr. Jennifer Kates, Vice President and Director of Global Health and HIV Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation
Mr. Matthew Kavanagh, Health GAP (Global Access Project)
Dr. Eric Goemare, Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders [TBC]

Moderator: Dr. Jennifer Cohn, University of Pennsylvania

New data showing 13 of 14 donor governments reduced funding for AIDS in low and middle-income countries will be presented by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS. This drop is unprecedented in the history of the AIDS response. The decline in donor funding comes as AIDS services across the world need to be scaled up rapidly in order to meet globally agreed “Fast Track” AIDS targets, which hold the prospect of slashing new infections and deaths. Analysis released earlier this year by UNAIDS, meanwhile, estimates that a minimum of $7.2 billion per year in additional funding is needed by 2020.

Join our panel of expert speakers to discuss the impacts of this funding crisis and outlooks for the future of financing in the AIDS response.