Open letter from civil society organizations around the world to:
His Excellency, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark
Your Excellency,
At the end of September, world leaders gathered in New York to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, the global goals which will guide the world’s efforts in development through 2030. Under the Health Goals “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” and an explicit sub-goal: “By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases”.
All countries agreed to implement this plan and pledged that no one will be left behind.
Denmark has played an important role in negotiating the equality-oriented SDGs and is seen as a leader in the AIDS response due to its commitment to human rights.
We are shocked to learn that at the same time your government agreed to implement the SDGs, it announced that it has prepared a finance act that proposes dramatic cuts in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
We understand that this includes a planned yearly cut of 65 million DK to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for 2015 and 2016 (almost $20 million USD), despite the promises made by the Danish Prime Minister and Nordic heads of state during US President Obama’s 2013 visit to Stockholm and the pledge made at the Global Fund Replenishment meeting in 2013.
The Global Fund is the mechanism through which more than 8 million people have accessed life-saving HIV medicine over the last decade. It provides preventative treatment so that women living with HIV can have HIV-negative babies, and it supports prevention and harm reduction services to underserved populations.
Your government is putting these gains at risk and letting people down.
On top of this you propose to end your contributions to the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, one of the leading organizations in the civil society response to HIV, and reduce the CISU funds (Civilsamfund I Udvikling – Civil Society in Development) available to Danish NGOs to implement HIV/AIDS prevention projects in partnership with civil society in the Global South.
Also, in the future you plan to end funding for two major HIV prevention initiatives; the International Partnership for Microbicides and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative that advance scientific research in microbicides and AIDS vaccines.
In addition, you propose to decrease the contribution to UNAIDS, and your bilateral support to HIV/AIDS and health programs in high prevalence countries is being phased out.
These cuts are in sharp contrast to what global leaders called for in New York: accelerated action and enhanced financial investments to fast-track the end of the AIDS epidemic.
What keeps us from achieving this historic opportunity is an annual funding gap of US$ 12 billion. Maintenance levels of funding are not an option; cuts such as those being suggested in your finance act are devastating and may threaten gains from past investments.
If we want to prevent a resurgence of the epidemic and use this limited window of opportunity in time to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat, we need more – not less – investments.
Ambitious investments now are required to ensure that no one is left behind. Increasingly the epidemic is about equity and human rights; young women, adolescents and already marginalized populations are bearing the biggest burden and see some of the highest rates of new infections.
Investing in the AIDS response is investing in maternal and child health, and in equality. It is also economically smart: earlier this year, the Lancet medical journal released a report suggesting that an ambitious scale-up in the fight against HIV/AIDS could generate benefits of US$1157 billion dollars between now and 2030.
We call on you to live up to the promises made to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals and reverse the cuts to HIV/AIDS and the Global Fund in the Finance Act.
Denmark was a leader in the fight against AIDS – we need your leadership now more than ever.
Global Signatories
- Fundacion Huesped, Argentina
- RedTraSex/Red de Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, Argentina
- Fundacion para Estudio e investigación de la Mujer, Argentina
- Intercambios Asociación Civil, Argentina
- Positive People Armenian Network NGO, Armenia
- APCASO, Asia-Pacific
- Pacific Friends of the Global Fund, Australia
- RESULTS Australia, Australia
- European AIDS Treatment Group, Belgium
- Stop AIDS Alliance, Belgium
- Positive-Generation, Cameroon
- Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD), Canada
- Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, Canada
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Canada
- RESULTS Canada, Canada
- Mecanismo social de apoyo y control en VIH de Colombia – MSACVCO, Colombia
- Linea de Apoyo a Personas con VIH Sida, Cuba
- Hiv-Danmark, Denmark
- AIDS-Fondet, Denmark
- Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM), Estonia
- Friends of The Global Fund Europe, Europe
- Positiiviset Ry/ HivFinland, Finland
- Global Health Advocates France, France
- SOLTHIS, France
- AIDES, France
- ACTION Global Health Advocacy Partnership, Global
- Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), Global
- Coalition PLUS, Global
- ONE Campaign, Global (Washington HQ)
- HIV Iceland, Iceland
- Presenation Society, India
- Osservatorio Italiano sull’Azione Globale contro l’AIDS, Italy
- Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network, Jamaica
- Her Story Centre, Kenya
- International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV Kenya Chapter, Kenya
- Kenya NGOs Alliance Against Malaria, Kenya
- LEAN ON ME FOUNDATION, Kenya
- WOTE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, Kenya
- BLUE CROSS NYATIKE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, Kenya
- INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV, Kenya
- KENYA AIDS NGOs CONSORTIUM – KANCO, Kenya
- ISHTAR MSM, Kenya
- GAY & LESBIAN COALITION OF KENYA OF,
- Kenya
- Kydesa Rainbow community, Kenya
- SMILE AFRICA DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION, Kenya
- World AIDS Campaign International, Kenya
- Stop TB Partnership- Kenya, Kenya
- KeNAAM, Kenya
- Kenya Treatment Access Movement-KETAM, Kenya
- OPERATION HOPE (CBO), Kenya
- Movement of Men Against AIDS in Kenya(MMAAK), Kenya
- DANDORA COMMUNITY AIDS SUPPORT ASSOCIATION, Kenya
- Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs, Lithuania
- Association for Healthy Life Styles PULSE – Kumanovo, Macedonia
- HOPS-Healthy Options Project Skopje, Macedonia
- Doverba org mk, Macedonia
- Civil Society Organization Center for development and improvement of public life Tetovo, Macedonia
- Golomoti Active AIDS Support Organization(GASO), Malawi
- Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), Malawi
- Journalists Association Against AIDS, Malawi
- Union C, Nepal
- NIRNAYA, Nepal
- Aids Fonds – STOP AIDS NOW!, Netherlands
- Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+), Netherlands
- Y+, Netherlands
- International Civil Society Support, Netherlands
- KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Netherlands
- ICW LATINA, Nicaragua
- 3rd Sector Support Africa, Nigeria
- Treasureland Health Builders Initiative, Nigeria
- Good Health Educators Initiative, Nigeria
- Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre, Nigeria
- Nye Pluss – hivpositives landsforening, Norway
- HivNorge, Norway
- White Dove Community Care Inc., Philippines
- AS – Center For The Empowerment Youth Of People Who Are Living With HIV And AIDS, Serbia
- AIDS Accountability International (AAI), South Africa
- Fundación Salud por Derecho/Right to Health Foundation, Spain
- Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS Service Organizations (EANNASO), Tanzania
- Tunisian Association of Positive Prevention, Tunisia
- PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS(PLAS) LYANTONDE NETWORK, Uganda
- WEDNET-AFRICA, Uganda
- The Brea TB and Aids Foundation, Uganda
- IceBreakers, Uganda
- All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH, Ukraine
- AIDS orphan UK trust, United Kingdom
- International HIV AIDS Alliance, United Kingdom
- STOPAIDS, United Kingdom
- Youth Stop AIDS, United Kingdom
- RESULTS UK, United Kingdom
- AID FOR AIDS, USA
- Health GAP, USA
- Pangaea, USA
- ITEZHI -TEZHI WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS ASSOCIATION (IWAWA), Zambia
- Youth Engage, Zimbabwe
- Advocacy Core Team, Zimbabwe
