A/HRC/32/25 tackling the mother-to-child HIV transmission rate and by enacting stronger legislation to fight child exploitation. Others drew attention to the protection of human rights at work as being central to the fight against HIV/AIDS, including through the implementation of international standards that provided protections against workplace discrimination and prohibited mandatory HIV testing or screening as a precondition for employment. 29. Many speakers described their national, regional and international efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, citing specific examples of national progress that had resulted from using strategies and approaches based on human rights. These were, among others, the scaling up of resources for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care; multisectoral, regional and other partnership approaches, alongside integrated strategic planning across service sectors; the provision of voluntary, anonymous and free testing for HIV; the provision of free and effective antiretroviral therapy to all HIV-positive patients; the provision of universal access to health care and to prevention programmes; sexual and reproductive health-care strategies; programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission; programmes designed to tackle stigma and discrimination; and community-based, participatory approaches to prevention, treatment and care, in which those affected by HIV/AIDS were seen not as a problem but rather as part of the solution. 30. Other speakers described the ongoing challenges that still impeded access to health care and antiretroviral treatment for all those in need. They pointed out that the reasons why many people were still being left behind in the HIV/AIDS response included inadequate resources and capacity at the national level, the high pricing of antiretroviral treatment and diagnostics, and insufficient progress in international cooperation on access to medicines. Speakers also emphasized that addressing discrimination, which continued to drive infection rates, was difficult. Some speakers noted that legislation and policies were not enough to tackle discrimination and other factors driving the epidemic. Moreover, speakers stressed that the situation of certain vulnerable groups made it particularly difficult to ensure their access to HIV treatment, and to uphold their sexual and reproductive rights. Some also noted that the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS, of 2011, remained an important agreed framework that reaffirmed “the need for all countries to implement the commitments and pledges in the present Declaration consistent with national laws, national development priorities and international human rights”.2 III. Conclusions 31. In their concluding comments, the panellists re-emphasized the imperative of promoting quality health care and eliminating stigma and discrimination, through a pragmatic approach guided by human rights. They emphasized that the Sustainable Development Goals could only be achieved if non-discrimination and gender equality were also achieved. In that regard, the panellists recommended a long-term approach in which human rights were advanced as a priority, actions were targeted at the groups and populations that were affected the most, and legal challenges and opportunities were also prioritized. They identified Ghana and Mozambique as examples of countries in which human rights progress had been achieved through legislative measures, and urged the African region to tackle gender issues and other key issues in which traditional beliefs and practices played a role, as the imperative was to save human lives. 2 See General Assembly resolution 65/277, para. 2. 9