The 2021 global progress report on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, is an opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved in addressing these diseases to date, the setbacks caused by the pandemic, and the lessons learned for the coming decade. This report documents the implementation of the 2016–2021 global health sector strategies for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections. Drawing on data from multiple sources, it analyses progress and highlights the continuing gaps. It reviews the activities undertaken over the last five years against WHO’s five strategic directions: information, services and essential interventions, equity, financing and innovation. There has been impressive progress in many areas of the response, including the large-scale expansion of HIV treatment, innovations in a cure for hepatitis C virus, and increasing coverage of immunization for hepatitis B virus and for human papillomavirus – the latter a critical intervention to prevent cervical cancer. Nevertheless, we are not on track to eliminate these preventable and treatable diseases, which together result in more than one million new infections every day, and more than two million deaths and 1.2 million new cases of cancer every year. In too many countries, priority interventions remain inaccessible to the populations most severely affected and at higher risk
