Switzerland – With 15 million people already accessing life-saving HIV treatment and a 35 per cent reduction in new HIV infections since 2000 and 42 per cent reduction in AIDS-related deaths since 2004, UNAIDS estimates that the world is on the fast track to end AIDS.

This is encouraging news in the “Year of the Migrant”, the year in which the vulnerability of migrants and their exposure to risk have been apparent as never before. There is, however, much that remains to be done.

As World AIDS Day 2015 heralds the fast track approach to end AIDS, and with adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals, the international community must ensure that migrants and mobile populations are not left behind in this call to action for an AIDS-free world.

“We need innovations for vulnerable populations, promotion of local leadership and a firm stand on the rights of migrants to healthcare access and non-discriminatory services,” said IOM Director of Migrant Health Dr. Davide Mosca.

There is a need to challenge the negative rhetoric against migrants, and to celebrate and share positive migrant stories (http://iamamigrant.org/). Migrants and mobile populations are often the most marginalized and stigmatized because of negative perceptions surrounding people living with HIV/AIDS.

The 2015 UNAIDS Progress Report still notes unacceptably high rates of new HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women, particularly in East and Southern Africa. “We need to disaggregate such evidence to ensure migrant women and girls are also covered in diagnostic, treatment and care interventions,” said Mosca.

IOM works closely together with partners, especially UNAIDS and National AIDS Councils, as well as civil society organizations and international organizations. Most importantly it works with communities to promote inclusion of migration issues in national AIDS policies, HIV surveillance surveys and HIV prevention and treatment programmes.

In recent years, IOM has worked on regional strategies to reduce vulnerabilities of sex workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. IOM also implemented community-based HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care and support in mobility-impacted communities in Mon and Kayin States in Myanmar. Furthermore, IOM has enhanced cross-border HIV/AIDS and TB prevention, care and treatment in mine-sending communities in Mozambique.

“A lot more needs to be done. Partnerships need to be expanded and investments refocused in order to target migrant populations and communities in most need,” said Mosca.

IOM’s Director General William Lacy Swing commented: “Migration increasingly exposes individuals to risks and vulnerabilities which are exacerbated by lack or inaccessibility of healthcare services, the perilous context within which the migration process takes place, the poor living and working conditions encountered by migrants – including stigma, discrimination and anti-migrant sentiment in societies.”

“As we mark World Aids Day today, a more comprehensive, concerted and collaborative effort is needed if the international community is to make progress towards ensuring the health of migrants and migrant communities,” he added.

For further information, please contact Dr. Poonam Dhavan at IOM Geneva, Tel:  +41 22 717 95 46; Email: pdhavan@iom.int