Event

SparkBlue Discussion on Social Protection and People Living With HIV and Key Populations

Boyan Konstantinov
Boyan Konstantinov

UNDP, in partnership with ILO, welcomes you to the global discussion on social protection for people living with HIV and key populations. You can join the discussion here:https://www.sparkblue.org/PLHIV2021

UNDP and ILO also invite you to join us for a live Global Dialogue “Connecting the Dots on Social Protection for People Living with HIV and Key Populations Most At Risk of HIV”. The two-day Global Dialogue will take place on 18-19 May 2021 at 8-11AM Eastern Standard time, on Zoom, with translations to Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. You can register to participate through the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/dVhdCS6iE8

Social protection is an effective tool to promote economic and social inclusion and is a key lever to reduce inequality and poverty, address vulnerabilities and enable investments in human development. The COVID-19 pandemic not only highlighted existing inequalities but has actually deepened them for many populations across all regions .  Going into the crisis, half of the world’s population (ILO, 2017) did not have adequate social protection and hence was not prepared to face the sudden and significant loss of income and large out-of-pocket health expenses. To ensure people living with HIV (PLHIV) and key populations are not left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic and response, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) issued a Global Call to Action which requested countries to enhance the responsiveness of their social protection systems to address people’s basic and changing needs and vulnerabilities, with specific mention of people living with at risk of and affected by HIV including key populations, among others.

Target audience:

We are inviting representatives of people living with HIV, key populations, relevant government authorities, such as ministries of health, labour, social protection and finance, multilateral organizations such as ILO, WHO, the UNAIDS Secretariat, the World Bank, and funding mechanisms and donors such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund), the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as the private sector and academics.

Impact:

The specific concerns, proposals, good practices, lessons learnt, and targeted recommendations outlined during the virtual Spark Blue Discussion (7-24 April) and Global Dialogue (27-28 April) will be documented and incorporated in a comprehensive document to inform the work of governments, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, key populations, people living with HIV, civil society, academia and the private sector.

Comments (2)

Daughtie Ogutu
Daughtie Ogutu

1. What are the needs and challenges of people with HIV and key populations (in general and for specific populations) and social protection, including in the context of COVID-19, in your country and region?
• Access to health care services. ARV treatment for PLHIV, MMD- Multiple month Drug dispensing.
• Access to legal aid in cases of violence.
• Poverty levels amongst KPs has gone up by over 50% (loss of income: - food and shelter) which ultimately leads to poor health, and exposure to more vulnerabilities, such as abuse.

2. Identify and discuss good practices and lessons learned, as well as opportunities for future action in social protection in national HIV responses and in making social protection schemes HIV and key populations – sensitive. Provide examples from your country and region.
• Establishing of a national / county level hotline, to address cases of violence and offer psychosocial support.

3. What is the main message on social protection for people with HIV and key populations that should be included in the next Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS?
People living with HIV and Key populations continue to be disproportionately affected by global crisis as witnessed during the COVID 19 pandemic. Social protection for these communities need to be strengthened if we are to bridge the gap and achieve the SDG targets 1, 3, 5,8,10 by 2030.


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