Overview

In 2003, the UN General Assembly gathered for a one-day high-level meeting to review the progress made over the two years since the Declaration of Commitment was signed. The Secretary-General published two reports to assess progress to date in meeting the Declaration’s targets. The report ' Progress towards implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS', identified both progress in developing national strategies and a number of weaknesses in meeting the Declaration’s 2003 targets. These assessments were based on the responses of 103 countries, representing over 90% of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The report was accompanied by a companion assessment published by UNAIDS with additional analysis, ' Progress report on the Global Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, 2003'. Civil society and people living with HIV/AIDS were instrumental in the compilation of individual country reports.

Some progress had been made since 2001 on the 18 global and national indicators set out in the Declaration of Commitment. Key positive steps towards fulfilling the Declaration of Commitment included:
* A substantial increase in the number of countries with comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategies and national AIDS councils – 93% of the 103 countries surveyed;
* Public awareness of HIV/AIDS had increased in many parts of the world – 88% of countries surveyed had invested in public education initiatives;
* Funding for fighting HIV/AIDS in low and middle-income countries had increased by 20% since 2002.

Despite these accomplishments, the pace and scope of the world’s response to HIV/AIDS remained wholly insufficient. The 2003 assessment was a wake-up call to the world, warning that if financial and political resources were not increased significantly, the 2005 Declaration of Commitment targets would not be met. While access to treatments for people living with HIV and AIDS had made encouraging progress, the same commitment to prevention, particularly among young people, remained the greatest challenge facing the world community. The reports highlighted critical gaps in HIV prevention and care services around the world:
* Only 1% of pregnant women in heavily affected countries had access to services aiming to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission;
* Only 1% of people in sub-Saharan Africa who need ARV drugs were currently receiving them;
* Nearly 40% of countries with widespread epidemics did not have policies in place to provide appropriate care to AIDS orphans;
* Nearly one third of countries lacked policies that ensure women’s equal access to prevention and care services, despite women accounting for 50% of all people living with HIV worldwide as of December 2002.
* Some 38% of countries, including almost one-half of those in sub-Saharan Africa, had yet to adopt legislation to prevent discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
* Only 36% of countries had legal measures to prohibit discrimination against vulnerable populations.

Echoing the principles espoused at the Special Session in 2001, the 2003 Progress Report once again urged political leaders to become more directly involved in anti-AIDS efforts, which remained inadequate particularly in the hardest hit countries. Key recommendations also include:
* Funding for AIDS in low and middle-income countries must be increased two-fold over current levels by 2005 and three-fold by 2007;
* Countries must implement a basic package of HIV prevention services and guarantee access to vulnerable groups – particularly women and girls, as well as adopt anti-discrimination legislation;
* National strategies must be devised to support the global community’s target that 3 million people with HIV/AIDS receive antiretroviral therapy by 2005.

In order to reach the 2005 targets, the Secretary-General’s report recognized five key actions: First, intensify advocacy efforts with focus on sensitive issues; second, develop a comprehensive resource mobilization strategy; third, produce extensive guidelines for intervention; fourth, strengthen UN country capacity by 46% with additional staff; and, fifth, promote harmonization through the “three ones” principle.