About us
Who we are
The World Health Organization (WHO) HIV/AIDS Department provides evidence-based, technical support to WHO Member States to help them scale up treatment, care and prevention services as well as drugs and diagnostics supply to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable response to HIV/AIDS. WHO is a Cosponsor of UNAIDS.
The Department is located in the Cluster for HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and Neglected tropical Diseases. (HTM). It is closely linked to other related departments and programmes of WHO. These include sexual and reproductive health; tuberculosis; blood safety; child and adolescent health; essential drugs and medicines policy; disease surveillance; mental health; vaccine and microbicide development; gender and women's health; health education and substance dependence.
What we do
Since the beginning of the epidemic, WHO has led the global health sector response to HIV. As a cosponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), WHO takes the lead on the priority areas of HIV treatment and care, and HIV/tuberculosis co-infection, and jointly coordinates with UNICEF the work on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
In 2011, WHO Member States adopted a new Global health sector strategy on HIV/AIDS for 2011-2015. The strategy outlined four strategic directions to guide actions by WHO and countries for the next five years.
- Optimize HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care outcomes.
- Leverage broader health outcomes through HIV responses.
- Build strong and sustainable health systems.
- Address inequalities and advance human rights.
WHO's core activities on HIV also include:
- improving the availability and quality of HIV related medicines and diagnostics tools;
- setting norms and standards for scaling up HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support services;
- monitoring and promoting health-sector progress towards achieving universal access to HIV services;
- facilitating cohesion and collaboration among partners to achieve the HIV related Millennium Development Goals and the targets set out in the Global health sector strategy on HIV/AIDS, 2011-2015.
Where we work
In addition to the Department at Headquarters, all WHO Regional offices and many country offices have dedicated HIV/AIDS teams and staff.
- HIV/AIDS unit of the Regional Office for Africa (AFRO)
- HIV/AIDS unit of the Regional Office for the Americas (AMRO/PAHO)
- HIV/AIDS and STD unit of the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)
- HIV/AIDS unit of the Regional Office for Europe (EURO)
- HIV/AIDS unit of the Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO)
- HIV/AIDS unit of the Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO)
Internship opportunities
The HIV Department at WHO headquarters in Geneva has been accepting interns from over 40 countries. Interns work on HIV/AIDS prevention and care topics at a global level, and are assigned an experienced supervisor who mentors them on a specific project related to their interests.
Internships usually require a commitment of 6 to 12 weeks and are unremunerated. However, a limited amount of scholarships are available through GenevaWISE (A Geneva-based NGO) for students living and studying in resource-limited countries.
