Feedback from the 35th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board

The 35th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) took place 9-11 December 2014. The NGO Delegation and our civil society colleagues had anticipated that this PCB meeting would be eventful but we underestimated the extent to which this would be true. Intense negotiations with Member States started the weekend before the meeting and continued until early in the evening on December 11th. A highlight of the meeting for civil society was the Executive Director's (ED) pledge to lead by example to meet the three-fold increase in funding that is needed for civil society to effectively conduct HIV advocacy and service work.

The 2014 NGO Report on Intellectual Property Barriers to Treatment Access was expectedly, the most controversial topic at the 35th meeting. This topic brought profound disagreements into open discussion about the role that UNAIDS ought to play in helping countries overcome these barriers and the proper balance between trade and public health, and between profit and the right to development.

Other topics that motivated extensive debate and negotiation focused on the ED's request to update the UNAIDS strategy in 2015, the thematic session on social protection, the Post-2015 agenda, gaps in paediatric prevention, treatment, care and support, and addressing HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The thematic segment on halving HIV transmission among people who inject drugs brought powerful testimonies to the floor about governmental failures to protect the lives and other human rights of people who use drugs.

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