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NCDs in Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS

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15th June 2016

On 8 June, the UN General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast-Track to Accelerate the Fight against HIV and to End the AIDS Epidemic by 2030 during the opening session of the 2016 High-level Meeting on Ending AIDS (HLM AIDS). 
 
The HLM AIDS brought together Heads of State and Ministers to review progress on reaching targets to end the AIDS epidemic, and consisted of plenary sessions, panel discussions, and numerous side events. 
 
For the first time, NCDs were included in detail in such a document. While the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS committed to strengthening the advocacy, policy, and programmatic links between HIV and NCDs, it did not further elaborate the links between HIV and NCDs, nor did it establish NCD care and services as an integral part of health services delivery programs.
 
The 2016 Declaration highlights the need for integrated services and programs for HIV/AIDS and NCDs several times: 
 
  • Acknowledges health is a precondition for and outcome of sustainable development and can only be achieved in the absence of a high prevalence of debilitating communicable and non-communicable diseases,
  • Emphasizes the importance of strengthening local, national, and international health and social protection systems, including community systems, integrated responses to address NCDs and HIV/HIDS,
  • Work towards achieving UHC, including the development of new service delivery models to improve efficiency, lower costs, and ensure delivery of more integrated services for HIV… NCDs, including cervical cancer, drug dependence, food and nutrition support, maternal, child and adolescent health, men’s health and mental health.
 
The inclusion of NCDs as a programmatic component of existing and new HIV/AIDS programs is a huge win for the NCD community, as it delivers a political mandate for integrated services.
 
The new UNAIDS Strategy highlights the need for integrated care as well, demonstrating the UN system’s acknowledgement of the benefits integrated care and services. As we implement the SDGs and translate the global goals into national development plans, political declarations such as these will be critical in making the case for integrated services to governments and donors.