UNAIDS has welcomed the launch of the End AIDS Coalition (EAC) during the 9th International AIDS Conference on HIV Science taking place in Paris, France. The EAC brings together a strong collaboration of leading AIDS experts, scientists, clinicians, policy-makers, faith leaders, business leaders and activists determined to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

The EAC aims to amplify efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by strengthening linkages across research, resources and implementation, by encouraging the aggregation and analysis of data from the global AIDS response to identify barriers and encourage efficiencies and by inspiring a movement to mobilize and engage the next generation of young leaders in the response to HIV.

The founder of the End AIDS Coalition is the American fashion designer and amfAR chair, Kenneth Cole, who is also a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador. Speaking at the launch, Mr Cole said the world was at a tipping point in the response to the HIV epidemic and stressed the need for all actors to join together to gain control of the epidemic before the window of opportunity closed.

The launch of the new coalition comes shortly after a new UNAIDS report, Ending AIDS: progress towards the 90-90-90 targets, showed that more than half of all people living with HIV now have access to HIV treatment and that AIDS-related deaths have almost halved since 2005. But the report also underlined the scale of the task ahead, with new HIV infections also declining but not at the pace needed to meet global targets. Read more via UNAIDS