A/HRC/10/47 page 11 II. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM UNITED NATIONS BODIES, PROGRAMMES AND SPECIALIZED AGENCIES A. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 27. The secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) indicated that according to national surveys conducted in 2007, 40 per cent of young males (aged 15-24) and 36 per cent of young females had accurate knowledge regarding HIV - still well below the 95 per cent goal for young people’s knowledge of HIV unanimously endorsed by Member States in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. More than 80 per cent of countries, including 85 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, report having policies in place to ensure the equal access of women to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. However, the extent to which those policies are effectively implemented is not known. Although most countries report having strategic frameworks that address the burden of the epidemic on women, only 53 per cent report budgeted support for programmes focused on the needs and rights of women in the context of HIV. 28. UNAIDS also highlighted the fact that the number of countries with laws that protect people living with HIV from discrimination has increased since 2003, but one third of countries still lack such laws. The degree to which such anti-discrimination laws are enforced is unclear, and in some countries such favourable legal frameworks are undermined by the increasing trend towards criminalization of HIV transmission. While 74 per cent of countries have policies in place to ensure equal access to HIV-related services for vulnerable groups, 57 per cent of these have laws or policies that impede access to HIV services for these groups. Even in countries with low levels of HIV infection, key populations at risk of HIV infection - including sex workers, people who use drugs and men who have sex with men - are experiencing an exceptionally heavy burden of the disease, including substantial numbers of new HIV infections. Scaling up focused HIV-prevention strategies for such populations represents an urgent human rights and public health imperative and requires political leadership. Stigma and discrimination continue to be formidable barriers to achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, and more work needs to happen to address them in practical, programmatic ways. In this regard, the UNAIDS secretariat has published a resource guide entitled “Reducing HIV Stigma and Discrimination: a critical part of national AIDS programmes”, which outlines strategies and programmes for overcoming stigma and discrimination. The UNAIDS secretariat and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have also produced a handbook for parliamentarians that highlights how they can help and have helped defend the human rights of people living with HIV and other vulnerable groups. 29. In response to concerns about an apparent trend towards criminalization of HIV transmission and other punitive responses to the epidemic, the UNAIDS secretariat co-hosted with UNDP in November 2007 an “International Consultation on the Criminalization of HIV Transmission”.5 Meeting participants reaffirmed the ongoing relevance and necessity of applying 5 For a summary of main issues and conclusions, see: http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/ 20080919_hivcriminalization_meetingreport_en.pdf.