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In its message for World AIDS Day 2020, the United Nations called for global solidarity and warned that in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the world cannot afford to make the same mistakes it made in the fight against it. HIV, when millions died in developing countries. awaiting treatment.
The UN says successive lockdowns have increased extreme poverty and put access to medical care for all diseases at risk.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima (embedded video) called on countries to unite in the fight against HIV / AIDS and Covid-19 and learn from experience gained in the field.
“Friends, in responding to Covid-19, the world cannot make the same mistakes it made in the fight against HIV, when millions in developing countries died awaiting treatment,” he wrote in a statement.
“Even today, more than 12 million people are still waiting for HIV treatment and 1.7 million people became infected with HIV in 2019 because they were unable to access essential services,” he said.
He urged world leaders to put their people at the center of their policies to “address the inequalities in which epidemics thrive,” adding that there has been a slowdown in the fight against HIV / AIDS.
UNAIDS also calls on companies to openly share their technology and know-how and to shake up their intellectual property rights in the race for successful vaccines, “so that they can be produced at the enormous scale and speed necessary to protect everyone.” .
- 1.7 million people were infected with HIV in 2019
- 38 million people were living with HIV worldwide
- 690,000 people died of AIDS-related diseases
In a new report, Prevailing Against Pandemics by Putting People at the Center, UNAIDS wants countries to invest much more in responses to global pandemics and adopt a new set of HIV-related goals, such as reducing discrimination, stigma and punishment related to the disease.
It suggests that if those goals are met, the world will once again be on track to end AIDS as a threat to public health by 2030.
The expansion of HIV treatment has been impressive, with more than twice the number of people on treatment than in 2010.
That said, there were only 26 million people on HIV treatment in June 2020, 4 million short of the target.
– UNAIDS (@UNAIDS) November 30, 2020
AIDS and Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of society and how key populations have been left behind in many parts of the world, including women, minorities, and low-income individuals.
The spread of the coronavirus has also caused an unprecedented disruption in health services.
Ongoing investigation has suggested that pandemic lockdowns earlier this year saw a drop in emergency room visits for non-Covid-related illnesses, such as heart attacks and strokes, as well as an impact on the fight against malaria. and HIV tuberculosis.
For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty will increase, life expectancy will decline and the annual number of deaths from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could double, according to the United Nations on Tuesday.
“Possibly most alarming … is the threat of the return of famines, potentially in various places,” United Nations emergency aid coordinator Mark Lowcock told reporters.
The UN said on Tuesday that $ 35 billion would be needed for aid in 2021, an increase “almost entirely due to Covid-19,” it said.
Progress in treating HIV / AIDS in Africa
In November, UNAIDS announced that the new antiretroviral therapy with cabotegravir tested in several African countries could be a “game changer”.
Injected into women every two months, cabotegravir is 89 percent more effective at preventing HIV than daily PrEP pills, pre-exposure prophylaxis, the organization found in a recent study.
“If donors and countries invest in implementing injectable PrEP access to women at increased risk of contracting HIV, new infections could be drastically reduced,” Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.
The trial involved more than 3,200 women between the ages of 18 and 45 who were at increased risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Eswatini, Uganda and Zimbabwe, UNAIDS said.
He said expert monitors stopped the trial earlier than planned because there was “clear statistical evidence showing that the injectable drug is more effective than a daily pill,” the agency said.
He added that four women who received injections became infected with HIV, as opposed to 34 women who took the pills, with all treatments administered randomly.
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