AIDS complications cause the death of more than 13,000 people every week around the world, so it is necessary to increase efforts to end this pandemic by 2030, a goal set by the member countries of the United Nations Organization (UN) in a political declaration adopted in 2021.
Twelve months after the signing of this global agreement, the Secretary General of the UN, the Portuguese António Gutiérrez, presented a report on the progress in the execution of the declaration of commitment, which focuses on reducing inequality between different populations to thus being able to prepare the ground to end AIDS as a global scourge at the beginning of the next decade.
It is necessary to redouble efforts
According to the UN news service, the report asserts that social inequalities and lack of investment “put the world in a dangerous situation of lack of preparation to face the pandemics of today and tomorrow.”
Data collected by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) show that over the past year, HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have not declined fast enough to meet the goal of eliminate the pandemic by 2030.
In order to guide efforts to stop and reverse the spread of HIV, the report outlines some specific measures, including:
• HIV prevention and addressing the social factors that produce inequality
• Responses whose leadership comes from the communities themselves
• Equitable access to medicines, potential vaccines, and the latest health technologies
• Sustainable financing for the AIDS response and the prevention, preparedness and response to the HIV pandemic in general
• Data collection systems that focus on people
• Strengthening of global alliances
Three immediate steps
In addition, the secretary general, in the voice of his chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, pointed out three measures that should be adopted immediately, in order to reverse the current trends that move the world away from the elimination of the HIV pandemic.
First, she said, inequalities related to the discrimination and marginalization of entire communities – women, people of sexual diversity or sex workers, for example – must be addressed, which are too often reinforced by laws and policies public that maintains them.
The way to do this is to create policies aimed at reducing the risk of HIV infection in these marginalized communities, and he reflected that, while stigma harms everyone, social solidarity “protects us all.”
A second objective is to guarantee the renewal of HIV treatments, since the latest advances have developed long-acting treatments (such as the one that is given every two months), so that the largest number of people in the world have access to these new technologies.
Last but not least is by no means increasing the resources available for the response to HIV/AIDS. “Investing in AIDS is investing in global health security. It saves lives and saves money “states the report.
Fairness is the key
According to the contributions of more than 35 Member States and observers from various regions of the world, it is urgent to redouble collective action to move towards the first revision of the goals, in 2025, and part of these efforts is to detect and combat social inequalities, in order to obtain a successful response to HIV, detailed another UNAIDS bulletin.
Only if countries work together and are courageous in addressing inequalities will it be possible to end AIDS, said António Gutiérrez, who ended with the hopeful message that, if efforts are united and enough energy is devoted to them, “we are still Time to end this public health threat by 2030.”
At AHF Latin America and the Caribbean we work every day to respond to the HIV pandemic, bringing our services closer to all people, without stigma or discrimination. If you are looking for a free HIV test or need to start or resume your treatment, come to our nearest office in your country or write to us on Whatsapp and we will help you.
