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UNAIDS Executive Director visits the community village and children’s hospital on World AIDS Day
KINSHASA, December 2, 2020—Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, visited an HIV-supporting community in Kinshasa as part of the World AIDS Day celebrations in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He praised the country’s rich experience in responding to pandemics, such as Ebola, as the government announced the end of an Ebola episode on November 18.
“I thank the Congolese government, our civil society supports and partners, who together enable the country to address many issues, most notably HIV, Ebola and now COVID-19,” Ms. Byanyima said.
Ms. Byanyima stressed that more people in the country need life-saving HIV treatment and that more needs to be done to help women in particular. “Despite notable progress, only 57 percent of people living with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy,” added Ms. Byanyima. “The coverage of antiretroviral therapy is higher among men (72%) than among women (51%), which is indicative of an inequality between the sexes. She went on to say that women will not start HIV treatment if they are afraid to disclose their HIV status or if they feel they will not be supported or accepted if they are living with HIV.
Of the 520,000 people living with HIV in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 64% are women. 68,000 children under 14 are HIV-positive in the country and only 25% are being treated. This discovery motivates Ms. Byanyima’s call for the country to accelerate pediatric care, including HIV services.
At the Kalembelembe Children’s Hospital, he spoke to the staff and adolescents who grew up having access to the medical-social support provided by this facility. These kids asked the Executive Director to continue supporting the ongoing funding of self-help groups to and from adolescents living with HIV, their integration into the school system, the elimination of taxes, as well as the elimination of legal barriers that require parental consent for HIV testing.
Young women are severely affected by HIV in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Byanyima recalled that women and girls must receive special attention to end AIDS. “Every week in sub-Saharan Africa, 4,500 young women are infected with HIV,” she said. “This is unacceptable. We need to radically differentiate the response to HIV.”
Upon arriving in Kinshasa, Ms. Byanyima met with the Minister of Health, Mr. Eteni Longondo. She congratulated him on his decisive role in the response to COVID-19 and stressed the importance to be given to HIV in the face of the pressure exerted by the three simultaneous pandemics of Ebola, HIV and COVID-19.
Deaths from AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have decreased by 61% over the past 10 years, from 37,000 in 2010 to 15,000 in 2019. HIV prevalence remains around 1% among adults, but 23 000 new infections were registered.
Ambitious and courageous goals
The new UNAIDS report, Winning against pandemics by putting people at the center, calls on governments to significantly increase their investment in pandemic responses and to adopt a bold, ambitious but achievable set of HIV targets. Achieving these goals will allow us to get back on the path to eradicating AIDS as a threat to public health by 2030.
The global response to AIDS was already overdue before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the rapid spread of the coronavirus has further slowed progress. Long-term models of the pandemic’s impact on HIV response indicate that the number of new HIV infections and the number of AIDS-related deaths between 2020 and 2022 will increase between 123,000 and 293,000 cases for the former and between 69,000 and 148,000 cases for the second.
“We are paying a heavy price for the collective failure to implement a global, rights-based, people-centered response to HIV and its adequate funding,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “Reserving the implementation of programs only for those chosen by the political class will not reverse the course of COVID-19 or eradicate AIDS. For the global response to deliver on its promises, we must put people first and address the inequalities that constitute the breeding ground for epidemics. “
To reach
Although some sub-Saharan African countries such as Botswana and Eswatini have made significant progress in meeting or even exceeding their 2020 HIV targets, many are still lagging behind. Countries that do very well set a good example. UNAIDS is working with partners to incorporate these lessons into a set of proposed people-centered 2025 goals.
These goals prioritize excellent coverage of sexual and reproductive health services, as well as HIV, the removal of punitive laws and regulations, and the fight against stigma and discrimination. People are at the center of concern, especially the most exposed and marginalized groups: young women and girls, teenagers, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs, gays and other men who have sex with men. men.
The new targets for HIV service delivery aim to achieve 95% coverage of each subpopulation of people living with HIV and at high risk. Governments will be able to better control the epidemic within their borders by focusing on people and focusing on sensitive areas.
The 2025 targets also call for the creation of an environment conducive to an effective response to HIV and include ambitious anti-discrimination targets: – less than 10% of countries with punitive laws and regulations, – less than 10% of people living with HIV. from HIV victims of stigmatization and discrimination, – less than 10% of people who are victims of gender inequality and violence.
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