Some 4,000 girls and young women around the world continue to become infected with HIV every week, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. In the early years of fighting this virus, our advances were often rapid and immense because everywhere you looked, there were great needs.

From fewer than 50,000 people on HIV treatment in Africa in 2000 to more than 20 million today, innovations in HIV prevention have proliferated. The fight against HIV is no longer a challenge of science, but of equity. For us to accelerate progress again, we must recover that strong spirit of equity that animated us two decades ago. In Africa, young people aged 15 to 24 years bear a disproportionate burden of HIV and are even more vulnerable, as they face greater barriers to accessing health services. These infections now occur mainly among men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, trans women, and sex workers. Furthermore, their voices are increasingly silenced, and they are under constant threat of violence and abuse, as discriminatory legislation targeting LGBTI people is emerging. To end HIV infections among young women and girls, we must also reduce infections among their sexual partners. This means investing in efforts to transform the cultural and social norms that predispose men and boys to HIV. It also means that men at high risk of HIV infection are tested and supported to start and stay on treatment. It's about renewing our focus on promoting equity. We did it at the turn of the millennium with our push for equity in HIV treatment. The 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich is three months away. Let us move forward now and end this unfinished fight by reducing HIV infections in the most affected groups. To achieve this, we can re-energize ourselves with the goals and unbreakable spirit of those golden years of progress in the fight against HIV. The Global Fund partnership seeks to achieve this with projects such as Voix EssentiELLES and the HER Voice Fund, which strives to meaningfully engage young girls in key health programs.