UNHCR is mandated to protect, support and provide lasting solutions for refugees and forcibly displaced persons including those living with or at risk of HIV. UNHCR delivers life-saving emergency support and protection in 122 countries through partnerships, investments and initiatives grounded in human rights and evidence-based approaches, while promoting sustainable, resilient emergency responses.
Recognizing that people living with or affected by HIV are often underserved in humanitarian settings, UNHCR works with host governments and partners to integrate HIV services into emergency preparedness and response frameworks. It is committed to ensuring access to comprehensive HIV-related services through a holistic, multisectoral approach encompassing health, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health and mental health care. Guided by the forthcoming Global Public Health Strategy 2026–2030 and the Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031, UNHCR’s approach is anchored in four interconnected objectives to be achieved by 2030: 1) adopting inclusive national policies and plans; 2. strengthening local service delivery for refugees and host communities; 3. ensuring complementary NGO support where necessary; and 4. building stronger public health capacity within refugee communities.
UNHCR and the Secretariat continue to advance Global Refugee Forum pledges to include refugees and displaced persons in national HIV strategies, sustaining equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and care in humanitarian settings and strengthening coordination through the Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV in Emergencies
In 2025, UNHCR, in close coordination with WFP, Secretariat and partners, advanced the revision of the 2010 Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines for Addressing HIV in humanitarian settings and launched a new dashboard mapping community-based and displaced-people-led organizations to strengthen their meaningful inclusion in decision-making and coordination processes.
