Towards universal access: scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector

At the June 2006 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, United Nations Member States agreed to work towards the goal of “universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support” by 2010.

Drawing on lessons from the scale-up of HIV interventions over the last few years, WHO, as the UNAIDS cosponsor responsible for the health sector response to HIV/AIDS, has established priorities for its technical work and support to countries on the basis of the following five Strategic Directions, each of which represents a critical area where the health sector must invest if significant progress is to be made towards achieving universal access.

• Enabling people to know their HIV status.
• Maximizing the health sector's contribution to HIV prevention.
• Accelerating the scale-up of HIV/AIDS treatment and care.
• Strengthening and expanding health systems.
• Investing in strategic information to guide a more effective response.

In this context, WHO undertook at the World Health Assembly in May 2006 to monitor and evaluate the global health sector response in scaling up towards universal access and to produce annual reports. This first report addresses progress in scaling up the following health sector interventions.