AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL-MR. ANTONIO GUTERRES: THE TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR UNAIDS TO SUNSET!
Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,
We, the organization of Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK), a representative organization of women living with HIV, write with deep concern regarding the proposal to sunset UNAIDS by the end of 2026. While we understand the realities of funding shortfalls and the need for the broader UN reform, we believe that dissolving UNAIDS at this moment would be a grave misstep with far-reaching consequences for the global HIV response, more so for women and Girls. We are aware that UNAIDS has been in the process of undergoing reforms and has recently restructured leading to a 55% reduction of human resources in line with the dwindling of global AID. Furthermore, the organization is in the process of delivering the next global AIDS strategy (2026-2031) , which will define the steps and guide the world towards achieving the end of AIDS by and beyond 2030.
For nearly three decades, UNAIDS has been far more than a UN agency. It has been the conscience, the convenor, and the global coordinator of the AIDS Response. The achievements under its leadership are undeniable. Since its creation in 1996, new HIV infections worldwide have dropped by more than half. Access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment has expanded from fewer than half a million people in the mid-1990s to more than 30 million today. These advances did not happen by chance, they are the result of relentless advocacy, coordination, and the political will that UNAIDS helped mobilize. Equally important, UNAIDS has been a champion of human rights, fighting stigma and discrimination, and ensuring that the HIV response is about justice and dignity as much as it is about medicine.
The secretariat has also been pivotal in mobilizing global resources, especially for marginalized communities including women and Girls living with HIV, children and key populations. It played a key role in the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and has consistently leveraged its platform to draw political attention and financing to the cause. UNAIDS should not become a victim of its own success.
These achievements are not just historical milestones; they are the foundation on which the possibility of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 rests
We strongly believe that although the end of AIDS is near, the finish line has not yet been crossed. Persistent inequalities continue to leave women, girls, men who have sex with men, sex workers, and people who inject drugs disproportionately vulnerable. New infections remain stubbornly high in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Without a dedicated body like UNAIDS, the global response risks becoming fragmented, reversing decades of progress.
We are equally concerned about the broader implications for global health security. Beyond HIV alone, UNAIDS has strengthened health systems, contributed to pandemic preparedness, and built capacities that will be vital in addressing future health crises. Dismantling it now would weaken, not strengthen, the international health architecture.
This moment calls not for retreat, but for renewed leadership. Addressing funding cuts should mean innovation and reinvigoration, not dismantling. Instead of closure, UNAIDS should be streamlined where necessary but preserved as a visible, independent entity. Donor commitments should be renewed with the understanding that investments now deliver exponential human and economic returns. Community leadership must be prioritized, with resources flowing to grassroots organizations working directly with those most at risk. And HIV must remain central to the Sustainable Development Goals, tightly linked to gender equality, poverty reduction, and universal health coverage.
History will remember whether the world chose to finish the fight against HIV or abandoned it when the goal was within reach. Millions of lives depend on the decision made in the next few years, not only those living with HIV today, but those who will be affected if momentum falters.
Secretary-General Guterres, UNAIDS must not be sunset. The world does not need less commitment to HIV; it needs more. We urge you to preserve and strengthen this institution so that it can lead the global community across the finish line of ending AIDS by 2030.
