Irish Aid and HIV & AIDS

HIV and AIDS is a key priority of Irish Aid, endorsed in the White Paper on Irish Aid (2006). Ireland’s commitment to addressing HIV and AIDS is demonstrated at the highest political levels through the sustained leadership of the Taoiseach, Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State for Overseas Development.

At the 2005 United Nations Summit the Taoiseach announced that,

Ireland will double its spending on the fight against HIV and AIDS to €100 million … to put the battle against HIV and AIDS at the very centre of our programme.

These additional resources are to cover HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases, and include a stated commitment for 20% of the increased resources to be allocated to interventions that will benefit children affected by AIDS and other communicable diseases.

Irish Aid’s response to HIV and AIDS has been guided by its understanding of poverty and vulnerability and how HIV relates to this. It promotes a broad development response to HIV and AIDS focused on reducing poverty, provision of basic services and addressing the poor status of women. Its 2000 HIV and AIDS Strategy identifies HIV and AIDS as a disease of poverty, driven by gender inequality and abuse of human rights. It acknowledges that addressing HIV and AIDS is fundamental to reducing poverty and vulnerability, essential for human development and a key public health challenge.

Informed by this strategy, Irish Aid’s response to HIV and AIDS has been built up over the past seven years. The focus of support is on strengthening national responses to HIV and AIDS on a country by country level. The approach adopted has been to work with a range of partners and support interventions at international and national levels.

* An Taoiseach at the Millennium Review Meeting at the United Nations General Assembly, 14 September, 2005.