ViiV HEALTHCARE ENDORSES CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON ENDING AIDS AND HIV AS A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT IN EUROPE BY 2030

We are proud to endorse the consensus statement on actions needed from the European Union (EU) to achieve the goal of ending AIDS and HIV as a public health threat by 2030. This statement, developed collaboratively by a broad coalition of stakeholders including WHO Europe and UNAIDS, outlines essential steps for the European Commission and its Member States to take to meet this ambitious target.

The consensus statement calls to make HIV, TB, viral hepatitis, and STIs a political, policy, and budgetary priority in the new EU Commission mandate from 2024 to 2029. This collaborative effort aims to foster mutual learning and establish a clear European ambition to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with a focus on SDG 3.3, which aims to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other communicable diseases by 2030.

"We fully support this comprehensive approach to ending AIDS and HIV as a public health threat," said Jean-Bernard Simeon, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe, ViiV Healthcare. "Endorsing this consensus statement aligns with our commitment to investing in the development of medicines and to ensuring equitable access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care, especially for key populations and those most vulnerable. The European Commission and its Member States must take decisive actions to meet these goals."

Key Themes of the Consensus Statement:

1. Strengthen Political and Community Leadership: Provide guidance to Member States to ensure inclusive plans involving diverse stakeholders and civil society.
2. Scale Up Testing: Remove barriers and incentivize early diagnosis and facilitate self-testing to reduce stigma.
3. Enhance Prevention and Treatment Access: Improve access to prevention methods and ensure equitable ART access.
4. Tackle Stigma and Discrimination: Promote initiatives to reduce stigma, especially in healthcare settings.
5. Increase Funding and Resource Allocation: Ensure consistent funding to civil society groups by EU4Health and other funding mechanisms and financially support global health organizations (e.g, UNAIDS and the Global Fund).
6. Improve Data Collection: Collaborate with the European Centre of Disease Control, WHO Europe and Member States to enhance data collection and monitoring programmes.
7. Boost EU Leadership: Integrate HIV/AIDS progress into EU accession reports and allocate necessary resources to the EU Global Health Strategy to fight against HIV and AIDS in third countries.

For more information on the consensus statement and its contributing organisations, please consult the full document available here. ViiV has contributed to and endorses this statement.