Event highlights
26 July 2024
The “Keeping the Promise” ministerial event, organized with the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany, attracted some 300 participants, including ministers, decision-makers and civil society organizations from across the WHO European Region and beyond, with a focus on eastern Europe and central Asia. The audience was welcomed with speeches by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, and Dr Sabine Dittmar, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany. Throughout the event, urgent questions were asked about living up to commitments made, with a particular focus on priorities for reaching the goal of ending AIDS and the epidemics of sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
The ministerial panel outlined progress made to date and ambitions for 2025. Country perspectives were covered by national programme directors and managers, giving valuable insights into key aspects of frontline work and opportunities for communicable diseases. Finally, global partners had an opportunity to react and reflect on progress made towards ending AIDS and eliminating viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. The event concluded with closing remarks on “Bridging the gaps” by Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Special Advisor to WHO/Europe, Senior Fellow in Global Health at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Institute of Global Politics, Columbia University, United States of America.
The choice is ours
The entrance to the event featured a WHO/Europe photographic exhibition with quotes from people living with HIV. Referring to the installation, Dr Kluge quoted the words of Lisa Shevchuk from Ukraine, who was born with the virus, “I believe that we can live in an inclusive world where everyone, no matter who we love, or how we define our gender, or what kind of diagnoses we have, is treated with respect, dignity and justice.”
Dr Kluge continued, “The presence here today of so many governments and policy-makers demonstrates that we can respond to Lisa’s plea. We can get over the finish line. The choice is ours.”
Notes on participants
The ministerial panel featured interventions from Dr Sabine Dittmar (Federal Ministry of Health, Germany), Anahit Avanesyan (Ministry of Health, Armenia) Mikheil Sarjveladze (Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Georgia), Dr Angela Paraschiv (Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova), Dr Javier Padilla (Ministry of Health, Government of Spain), and Dr Jamoliddin Abdullo Abdullozoda (Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Tajikistan).
Representatives of national programmes included Dr Famil Mammadov (Republican AIDS Centre, Azerbaijan), Aibek Bekbolotov (National AIDS Centre, Kyrgyzstan), Annamyrad Rejepov (Directorate of Infectious Diseases Centres of the Ministry of Health, Turkmenistan), and Dr Olga Gvozdetska (Public Health Centre, Ministry of Health, Ukraine).
Partner reflections were presented by Winnie Byanyima (Executive Director of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) through remarks delivered by UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Christine Stegling, along with Rebecca Bunnell (Bureau for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, United States of America), Atul Gawande (USAID), and Bience Gawanas (The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria).
Event notice
22 July 2024
Recent advances in treatment and technology provide an unprecedented opportunity to end AIDS and the epidemics of viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. However, threats and challenges generated by the rapidly changing landscape and multiple overlapping crises require renewed commitment and an agile, fit-for-purpose response if the WHO European Region is to reach these goals.
This ministerial session will take place immediately prior to the opening event of the first day of the 25th International AIDS Conference, which runs from 22 to 26 July 2024. Organized by WHO/Europe in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Germany, the session reflects the WHO Regional Director for Europe’s dedicated advocacy for demonstrable political accountability and adequate investment in this area.
Political commitment towards ending these epidemics was renewed in 2022 at the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, when Member States adopted resolution EUR/RC72/R4 and decision EUR/RC72(2), including the Regional Action Plans for Ending AIDS and the Epidemics of Viral Hepatitis and STIs 2022–2030.
A ministerial session entitled “Resetting the course towards ending TB and AIDS and eliminating the epidemics of viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted” sought tangible commitments. Among them, heads of delegations committed to attending a subregional ministerial meeting on HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs.