Committees

Department for International Development's work on HIV/AIDS examined

8 December 2016

The International Development Committee will hold a one-off evidence session on DFID's work on HIV/AIDS.

Forthcoming evidence session

The International Development Committee will be holding an evidence session in the new year on DFID's work on HIV/AIDS. The Committee is particularly interested in the following issues/questions:

  • Coherence and effectiveness of DFID's strategy or framework to work towards the SDG HIV/AIDS target;
  • How DFID monitors and tracks the extent of its HIV/AIDS work;
  • The extent to which combating HIV/AIDS is or should be part of DFID's strategic vision on women and girls and the DFID Youth strategy; and
  • The level of UK publicly stated political commitment and the role of the UK Government's presence at HIV/AIDs conferences.

Written Submissions

If interested parties would like to provide short submissions of written evidence ahead of the Committee meeting then this will need to be with the Committee by the end of the day on Tuesday 10 January. Written submissions must be no longer than 1500 words in length.

The Committee considers requests for reasonable adjustments to its usual arrangements for taking evidence and publishing material, to enhance access. Please contact indcom@parliament.uk or telephone 020 7219 1223.

Background

AIDS is the biggest killer of women of reproductive age and 3.2 million children are living with HIV. AIDS is also the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa and the second biggest killer of adolescents globally; two thirds of new infections in this age group are among women and girls. Almost half of the 36.9 million people living with HIV don't have access to treatment.

65% of people living with HIV live in DFID priority countries. However, since the last HIV position was reviewed in 2013, no DFID strategy, plan or framework document has clearly referenced HIV. Neither the DFID strategic vision on women and girls nor the DFID Youth strategy have referenced HIV despite the above statistics. There was no ministerial or civil servant participation in either of the International AIDS Conferences, in July 2014 and July 2016, apart from a one-day visit by the respective high commissioners in each country.

At the recent UN High Level Meeting for Ending AIDS in June 2016 there were strong statements from the UK but no ministerial presence. At the same time, DFID is the second largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and has committed £1.1 billion to the fifth replenishment of the Global Fund.

Global Goal

SDG Goal 3 is to: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. The HIV/AIDS target within the Goal is to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases by 2030. The UN has set also set a target of less than 500,000 new HIV infections annually, less than 500,000 AIDS related deaths annually and the elimination of HIV related discrimination by 2020. 

Further information

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