World AIDS Day is an important day to contemplate on AIDS and the impact it has on our lives. After almost 40 years there are still people in the world who have no access to means to protect themselves against HIV, with no access to treatment, with no psycho-social support to cope with mental and social issues.
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) is one of the regions in the world where the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets are not met. EECA is one of the regions where we see an increase of new cases of HIV of 72% since 2010! More than 50% of the people living with HIV come to health care services with late diagnosis (with a CD4 count < 350 cells/mm3), which hampers stopping the transmission of HIV. Community-led and non-governmental organisations play a vital role in offering prevention and care services for key populations affected by HIV, they hold governments accountable to fulfil the human rights, and they help in stopping stigma and discrimination. These civil society organisations need the financial means to keep doing their work in a time in which, quoting UNAIDS director Winnie Byanyima, “we are way off target on combating AIDS, and in which the COVID-19 pandemic “has the potential to blow us even further off course”.
The Dutch government will stop its financial support to the CSOs of the EECA region at the end of this year. 185 organizations from 34 countries are therefore asking Minister Kaag, Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, to continue supporting civil society organizations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They have co-signed a letter to ask Minister Kaag to reconsider her decision to defund Key Population programming in the EECA region and reaffirm the Dutch government’s global leadership in supporting the Sexual Health and Human Rights of socially excluded and stigmatized populations. As members and representatives of these key population groups, we ask the Dutch Government to once more step up, show solidarity for and defend our (SRHR) Rights. We reach out with this demand in the spirit of hope, trust and partnership!
