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As COVID-19 worsens the delay in AIDS response and 2020 targets are not met, UNAIDS urgently calls on countries to learn the lessons of insufficient health funding and to act globally to end AIDS and others. pandemics.
GENEVA, 26 November 2020– In a new relationship, Man at the center of the fight against pandemicsUNAIDS calls on governments to drastically increase their investment in pandemic responses and to adopt a bold, ambitious yet 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. “
New goals to meet commitments
While some sub-Saharan African countries such as Botswana and Eswatini have made significant progress in meeting or even exceeding their 2020 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. They think about people, 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.
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 require creating a favorable environment for 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. HIV and HIV-infected. HIV victims of stigma and discrimination, as well as less than 10% of those affected by gender inequality and violence.
Overcome pandemics
COVID-19 entered the breach caused by lack of investment and action against HIV and other pandemics. Indeed, the spread of COVID-19 could have slowed further and we could have overcome its impact if health and social protection systems had been more resilient. The coronavirus shows us that investing in health saves lives but also provides a solid foundation for the economy. Therefore, health and HIV programs must be fully funded, both in good times and in economic crisis.
“No country can defeat these pandemics alone,” Byanyima added. “A challenge of this magnitude can only be overcome by building global solidarity, accepting our shared responsibility and mobilizing a response that leaves no one behind. We can do this by sharing this burden and working together. “
There are glimmers of hope, however, that the fight against COVID-19 rests on leadership, infrastructure, and the lessons of the HIV response. The latter has helped to preserve the continuity of services in the face of these extraordinary difficulties. Communities’ response to COVID-19 reveals the potential for cooperation.
At the same time, the world must learn from the mistakes made in the HIV response when millions of people in developing countries have died awaiting treatment. Even today, more than 12 million people still lack access to HIV treatment and 1.7 million infections were recorded in 2019 due to lack of access to essential services.
Everyone has the right to health. That’s why UNAIDS is pushing hard for a universal COVID-19 vaccine. Promising coronavirus vaccines are emerging, but we need to be careful they don’t become the preserve of the rich. To this end, UNAIDS and its partners call upon pharmaceutical companies to freely share their technology and know-how, as well as to give up their intellectual property rights so that the world can produce on a large scale and at the same time . speed needed effective vaccines to protect everyone.
UNAIDS
The United Nations Joint Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) guides and mobilizes the international community to realize its shared vision: “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths. »UNAIDS combines the efforts of 11 United Nations agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. It works closely with global and national partners to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. To find out more, visit unaids.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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