By Martha Isabel Andrés
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) considers that this goal could be achieved by 2030 if four fundamental elements are met: following science and evidence, putting human rights at the center, empowering communities and counting with the necessary financing.
This was expressed in an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina by the executive director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima, and maintained that since 2010 significant progress has been recorded at the international level, as demonstrated by the fact that deaths related to the disease were reduced by more than half and There was also a decrease in the number of new infections.
However, he pointed out that the battle is not over, since currently only about five or six countries have already achieved the goals set for 2025 and others are close to achieving them, but many nations remain outside the ideal path and are even going in the wrong direction. opposite direction.
“Most of the progress is reported in sub-Saharan Africa, although we see some regions such as Eastern Europe and even Latin America, where new infections are increasing rather than decreasing,” he said.
Despite the many existing challenges, Byanyima highlighted that there is a clear path to eliminating AIDS, which includes, first of all, following the scientific evidence, knowing who is infected and reaching those people, a task in which UNAIDS It plays an important role, compiling data on the subject and presenting it to governments and communities so that they can make decisions through science.
The second thing is to put human rights at the center, because “when people are fleeing laws that penalize, when they are afraid to talk about their HIV status due to the strong stigmas in societies, even if medicines are available, they do not go to go look for them,” warned the executive director, who is on a working visit to Cuba from May 6 to 9.
In that sense, he regretted that in more than 60 countries there are regulations that criminalize same-sex relationships or discriminate on the basis of sexual identity, and that in more than a hundred territories some aspect of sex work is criminalized.
“Such legislation only creates hatred and violence against vulnerable people, which is why there must be equitable societies that allow everyone to seek the necessary support,” he said.
The head of UNAIDS referred, as a third element, to the importance of putting communities at the forefront of confronting the scourge, as it is a sex-related disease, a taboo topic that people do not want to talk about, for So the way to get them to address these sensitive issues is to find trust in their own communities, where prevention, detection and treatment can be promoted.
The fourth aspect is having financing and resources, which constitutes a great challenge, because those who are vulnerable to HIV are often not valued by governments and not enough is invested in their access to services.
“In addition, we are at a time when solidarity between the rich countries of the North and those of the South has decreased, so programs aimed at reaching the poorest are threatened, to which is added that health systems have been weakened.” during the Covid-19 pandemic and continue to be harmed due to the war in Ukraine, global inflation, and the fiscal and debt crisis in States with larger budgets, so financing is a challenge,” he added.
If these four aspects are met, Byanyima stated, we could really achieve control of the pandemic by 2030.
A DISEASE OF INEQUITY AND INJUSTICE
Eliminating stigma and discrimination against vulnerable groups and people living with HIV is essential to advance the battle against this pandemic, since the beginning of which 40 million people have died around the planet.
According to the senior official, governments must take ownership of this issue and commit to guaranteeing the right to health of all their citizens. “Where there are privatized, fragmented health systems that provide better services to the rich and others of lower quality or non-existent to the poor, you cannot fight and defeat.”
HIV/AIDS is a disease of inequity and injustice, the executive director stressed, adding that authorities must commit to providing equitable services, repeal laws that criminalize and, even, in cases where there is no discriminatory legislation, promote campaigns against prejudice and exclusion.
Governments must also empower communities, when the value of their leadership is understood, it is possible to better confront diseases, considered the minister, who also highlighted the significance of international solidarity to reduce gaps.
We need rich countries to remain committed and continue funding, all people have the right to life; But more nations also need to invest in their own response to HIV/AIDS, such as those that are moving toward middle-income status, she said.
He recalled that in the 1990s, rich and developing countries agreed to combat the disease and UNAIDS was created to lead and coordinate global action. Since then, this program establishes the vision and objectives of the confrontation, collects data to help States plan how to respond, and every five years the strategy to follow in the following five years is drawn up.
We also raise awareness worldwide and fight for access to better and more affordable medicines for everyone, explained Byanyima, and specifically mentioned that they organized a petition of more than 100 epidemiologists, scientists, economists and lawyers to call the producing companies of antiretrovirals to make them available to be produced generically at low prices.
We also advocate against laws that discriminate, we urge governments to adopt correct policies, we estimate the amount of funds that countries need, we mobilize resources and support the Global Fund to fight AIDS, he detailed about the program that he has led since 2019. .
EXPERIENCES FOR FUTURE PANDEMICS
According to Byanyima, HIV forced the global health system to work differently, because a multisectoral approach had to be used to address it. “It could not be resolved from health alone; human rights, legislation, gender equality and women’s rights, the economy, social development, and financing are involved.”
Countries and leaders that already follow it are achieving extraordinary results.
The fight against HIV also exposes the significance of putting communities at the center, because they are the ones who take the message of prevention and bring it to all citizens, who find every last person who needs to be vaccinated or given under treatment, those who are there to take care of each other, he estimated.
From his point of view, he also leaves the teaching of global solidarity, the evidence that a pandemic is global and cannot be put to an end until the weakest link is reached.
“In the face of HIV, the governments agreed on a strategy and decided to mobilize resources from the North to the South, establish joint goals,” he highlighted in this regard, and regretted that a similar vision was not adopted in the face of Covid-19, during which the lack of international response delayed the end and harmed poorer nations.
Currently, 38 million people have HIV in the world, but 30 million of them are on treatment, there is no vaccine, there is no cure, but they are living well, also due to global solidarity. “So that is one of the biggest lessons, the response to HIV shows the success of multilateralism,” he stressed.
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