Argentina

Key Results

Argentina passed a new Law guaranteeing comprehensive health care for people living with HIV, viral hepatitis, other STIs and TB, with a human rights and gender approach.
Expanded combination prevention services by building capacity of civil society organizations and communities.
Addressed unequal gender norms in the access to HIV services, strengthened support for women survivors of gender-based violence, and advocated for the meaningful participation in the HIV response of women in all their diversity.

Joint Programme Results

In 2022, Argentina strategically improved its HIV response through the expansion of HIV services for all. With capacity building and technical support from the Joint Team, 22 government-led HIV programmes, including on combination HIV prevention, rapid testing and treatment are well equipped to deliver these services to all, including key populations (UNDP, UNAIDS Secretariat). The latest national combination HIV prevention implementation plan further establishes clear guidelines for expansion of these services among adolescents, young people, and key populations. In addition, the new female condom implementation plan is accelerating access to condoms in Argentina, thanks to the technical support from the Joint Team (UNFPA, UNAIDS Secretariat).

Multisectoral teams of health, human rights, and social development professionals improved their knowledge of combination HIV prevention strategies, rapid HIV testing and referrals, and social protection policies for key populations, particularly sex workers, transgender women and other people from the LGBTI community. Self-administered training materials for rapid HIV/syphilis dual testing were also developed to strengthen the capacity of healthcare providers.

Following technical support from the Joint Team, the new elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and chagas (EMTCT Plus) and rapid HIV/syphilis dual testing guidelines strengthened access and quality of prevention of vertical transmission services for pregnant women in primary healthcare facilities. Further technical and financial assistance supported the monitoring of EMTCT programmes in the Corrientes province (UNICEF, WHO, UNAIDS Secretariat).

In July 2022, Argentina passed a law guaranteeing comprehensive health care for people living with HIV. Thanks to advocacy and technical support from the Joint Team, the new law addresses various human rights issues and establishes the decriminalization of HIV transmission, the prohibition of mandatory HIV testing in the workplace, and bans all forms of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in different settings including schools, workplaces and health services (UNAIDS Secretariat).

The Global Alliance against Stigma and Discrimination Argentina chapter strengthened its institutional capacity and implemented various political advocacy and awareness creation initiatives in Jujuy and Salta provinces, thanks to the support from the Joint Team (WHO, UNAIDS Secretariat). Similarly, civil society organizations working on gender-based violence strengthened their capacities to deliver HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) through technical and financial assistance from the Joint Team (UNFPA, UNAIDS Secretariat). A mapping exercise was conducted to identify civil society organizations working on gender-based violence services in Argentina. In addition, series of workshops entitled Eradicating gender-based violence against women living with HIV galvanized discussions on service provision and support for women survivors of gender-based violence among 257 participants from six provinces (UNFPA, UNAIDS Secretariat).