Minister Brophy announces €2.5 million Irish Aid funding to UNAIDS
Press release
01 March 2022Funding to fight stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS, advocating for the removal of harmful laws and providing vital services
The Minister for Overseas Development Aid and the Disapora, Colm Brophy TD, today announced Irish Aid funding of €2.5 million to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The Minister made the announcement at a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, to mark UN Day of Zero Discrimination.
Minister Brophy said:
“I was particularly interested to hear from Winnie Byanyima her vision for UNAIDS. Under her leadership UNAIDS will have an important role to play if we are to achieve the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030."
"Irish Aid has a longstanding partnership with UNAIDS, which forms part of our work to strengthen global public health systems. That work is informing our Irish Aid response to the COVID-19 pandemic, just as it is the UNAIDS response. As we move on from this time of pandemic, continued, sustained investment in global public health will be required, drawing on the lessons learned from the response to HIV and AIDS, including on how we can best tackle stigma and discrimination."
"This additional Irish Aid funding will support the work of UNAIDS over the next year, including on fighting stigma and discrimination, advocating for the removal of harmful laws, and providing vital services.”
Welcoming the announcement, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said:
“Ireland is a strong leader in the global AIDS response and continues to be a steadfast ally to UNAIDS,” said Ms Byanyima. “This additional financial contribution from Irish Aid is an important signal at a time when the world must step up its efforts to remove laws that harm and instead create laws that empower so that people can receive life-saving and life-changing HIV services.”
ENDS
Press Office
01 March 2022
Notes to editors
- UN Day of Zero Discrimination is a global event which calls on people everywhere to promote and celebrate diversity, tolerance and inclusion and to stand together to end discrimination. The theme this year is “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower”.
- The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is one of Ireland’s key UN partner agencies. UNAIDS provides global leadership in response to the epidemic, promotes global consensus on policy and programmatic approaches to ending AIDS, and supports national Governments to develop comprehensive national strategies and implement effective HIV/AIDS activities at the country level.
- Ireland is a long-standing contributor to UNAIDS. Over the last 10 years, Ireland has donated over €27 million to UNAIDS in flexible core funding. In 2022, Ireland is increasing its annual core funding to UNAIDS to €2.5 million. Ireland has also provided bilateral funding through our embassies to UNAIDS in countries such as Tanzania and Uganda.
- The UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, is visiting Dublin on 28 February – 1 March 2022.