Resolution 60/8. Promoting measures to prevent HIV and other blood-borne diseases associated with the use of drugs, and increasing financing for the global HIV/AIDS response and for drug use prevention and other drug demand reduction measures

Reiterating its commitment to the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem, 4 in which Member States (…) also noted with great concern the alarming rise in the incidence of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases among injecting drug users, and reaffirmed their commitment to working towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes and treatment, care and related support services, in full compliance with the international drug control conventions and in accordance with national legislation, taking into account all relevant General Assembly resolutions,

Recalling the outcome document of the thirtieth special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem, entitled “Our joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem”,5 in which relevant national authorities were invited to consider, in accordance with their national legislation and the three international drug control conventions, including in national prevention, treatment, care, recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration measures and programmes, in the context of comprehensive and balanced drug demand reduction efforts, effective measures aimed at minimizing the adverse public health and social consequences of drug abuse, including appropriate medication assisted therapy programmes, injecting equipment programmes, preexposure prophylaxis, antiretroviral therapy and other relevant interventions that prevent the transmission of HIV, viral hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases associated with drug use, as well as consider ensuring access to such interventions, including in treatment and outreach services, prisons and other custodial settings, and promoting in that regard the use, as appropriate, of the Technical Guide for Countries to Set Targets for Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care for Injecting Drug Users, issued by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS,

Recalling also the commitments made in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast Track to Accelerating the Fight against HIV and to Ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030,6 in which Member States noted with alarm that people who inject drugs are 24 times more likely to acquire HIV than adults in the general population,

Taking note of the report of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS entitled Get on the Fast Track: the Life Cycle Approach to HIV, 7 according to which the available data suggest that new HIV infections among people who inject drugs globally climbed from an estimated 114,000 in 2011 to 152,000 in 2015, resulting in a failure to achieve the target of reducing transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs by 50 per cent by 2015,

Recalling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,8 in which Heads of State and Government pledged that no one would be left behind, and recalling also their commitment to ending, by 2030, the epidemics of AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as to combating viral hepatitis and other communicable diseases, inter alia, among people who use drugs, including people who inject drugs,

Reaffirming its commitment to promoting the health, welfare and wellbeing of all individuals, families, communities and society as a whole, and facilitating healthy lifestyles, through effective scientific evidence-based demand reduction initiatives at all levels, covering, in accordance with national legislation and the three international drug control conventions, prevention, early intervention, treatment, care, recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration measures, as well as initiatives and measures aimed at minimizing the adverse public health and social consequences of drug abuse,

Noting with concern that overall investments in the HIV/AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries have fallen since 2013 and that related spending by donor Governments declined by more than $1 billion in 2015, highlighting a downward trend in the availability of resources and funding for the global HIV/AIDS response, in particular for programmes targeting the prevention and treatment of HIV among people who use drugs,

1. Urges Member States, in the context of addressing and countering the world drug problem, to strengthen their domestic and global efforts, including through their health systems, to ensure continued political commitment to effectively addressing and countering HIV/AIDS among people who use drugs, in particular people who inject drugs, and to strive to achieve target 3.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (“By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, waterborne diseases and other communicable diseases”), and target 3.5, (“Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol”), and related targets;

3. Urges Member States and other donors to continue to provide bilateral and other funding for the global HIV/AIDS response, including to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and to strive to ensure that such funding contributes to addressing the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic among people who inject drugs, and HIV/AIDS in prison settings, in the spirit of the pledge made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind;

4. Encourages Member States and other donors to make extrabudgetary contributions to the HIV/AIDS work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to secure adequately financed, targeted and sustainable responses related to HIV and drug use, and HIV in prison settings, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations;