More than 30 countries from Asia and the Pacific region pledged on 30 January committed to ending the AIDS epidemic in the region by 2030 during the Asia-Pacific Intergovernmental Meeting on HIV and AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand. They adopted a new regional framework of cooperation to fast-track the HIV response with specific actions.

Organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in cooperation with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and other United Nations entities, the three-day meeting in Bangkok reviewed progress toward implementing transformative reforms on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support agreed to by national governments in 2012.

Government delegates and civil society organizations reviewed measures to enhance financial sustainability and effectiveness of the region’s HIV response and to strengthen regional cooperation. They focused in particular on addressing legal and policy barriers to accessing services for key populations at higher risk of HIV and persons living with HIV, which include discrimination in employment, health care, education, travel and insurance.

Responding to these commitments, the regional framework for action on HIV and AIDS beyond 2015 builds upon the ESCAP roadmap endorsed in 2012 and seeks national reviews and consultations on barriers to accessing HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

The framework includes a move towards sustainable financing of AIDS response and ensuring affordable access to life-saving medicine and diagnostics. By September, governments will decide on a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGS) for the period after 2015, as the Millennium Development Goals come to an end. The regional framework will provide important input to the global review of progress and help shape the future of the HIV response worldwide post 2015.