“Beyond 2025” symposium held on the 19^th of February 2020, was a platform to discuss the shared responsibility of civil society, especially including key populations, key population led and serving organizations, government, private sector and other stakeholders in reaching zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS related deaths, zero stigma and discrimination, achievement of undetectable viral load among all people living with HIV and making available all possible HIV prevention tools for populations who are vulnerable to HIV in Sri Lanka, especially in the context of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria transitioning out of Sri Lanka.

The symposium aimed to bring together community representatives, advocates and activists, government officials, representatives from non-governmental organizations, representatives from UN agencies and from other stake holders to discuss futuristic approaches to ensure a sustainable and a fully funded national HIV response, broker partnerships and foster a shared responsibility to tackle challenges that impede a robust, comprehensive and an inclusive national HIV response.

The symposium was organized by CARE Consortium (Young Out Here, National Transgender Network and Diversity and Solidarity Trust) in collaboration with the Country Coordinating Mechanism Sri Lanka and supported by APCASO.

Mrs. Thushara Agus – Executive Director, Family Planning Association, Sri Lanka was part of the opening Plenary “Sri Lanka National HIV Response – Here and Now” and served as the Moderator for the panel discussion ‘Fostering Collaborations and Partnerships for a Sustainable and Fully-Funded National HIV Response’. Mr. Sriyal Nilanka –FPA Sri Lanka’s AFAO Programme Officer was also a panelist.

FPA Sri Lanka is a key player in partnership with The National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), Ministry of Health, spearheading the national response to end HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka by 2025.

Particularly through our Sustainability of Key Populations in Asia (AFAO SKPA) Project funded by the multi-country Global Fund Grant, the aim is to promote sustainable services for key population members, scale-up of outreach work and improve key population members’ access to prevention, testing and treatment and retention in the service cascade.

As the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria intends transitioning out of Sri Lanka in 2022, securing the long-term sustainability of service delivery for key populations at national level by exploring innovative approaches and identifying alternative sources of funding for key programmes is paramount.