Dr Parveen Kumar
A UNAIDS report has come out with a very shocking revelation. According to the report, in the year 2023, every day 570 young women and girls aged between 15 and 24 acquired HIV. The report further says that in at least 22 countries in eastern and southern Africa, women and girls of this age group are three times more likely to be living with HIV than their male counterparts. Of the 39.9 million people living with HIV, 9.3 million people are still not accessing life-saving treatment. Last year, 630 000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses, and 1.3 million people around the world newly acquired HIV. In at least 28 countries, the number of new HIV infections is on the rise. It is here pertinent to mention that UNAIDS is the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) which leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 United Nation organizations and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS told that human rights violations are preventing the world from ending this deadly disease. Human rights violation occur when girls are denied education; when there is impunity for gender-based violence; when people can be arrested for who they are, or who they love; when a visit to health services is dangerous for people because of the community they are from. The result is that people are blocked from being able to access HIV services that are essential to save their lives and to end AIDS. To protect everyone’s health, we need to protect everyone’s rights. This is the theme on which the World AIDS Day 2024 will focus and celebrated. .
Humanity is still battling with many deadly diseases of which AIDS is the most lethal one. A chronic, life consuming disease the Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) refers to a diseased condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The HIV destroys the immune system adversely affecting the body capability to fight infection and disease. HIV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It can also be spread by contact with infected blood or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding. There’s no cure for HIV/AIDS, but medications can dramatically slow the progression of the disease. These drugs have reduced AIDS deaths in many developed nations. This HIV has claimed over 36.3 million lives according to World Health Organization and it still continues to be a major global public health issue. The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) estimated that 3.14 million people lived with HIV/AIDS in India in 2023. Despite being home to the world’s third-largest population of persons with HIV/AIDS (as of 2023, with South Africa and Nigeria having more), the AIDS prevalence rate in India is lower than that of many other countries. The four high prevalence states of South India are Andhra Pradesh with 500,000 cases, Maharashtra with 420,000, cases, Karnataka with 250,000 and Tamil Nadu with 150,000). Together these four states account for 55% of all HIV infections in the country. Things have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. The HIV positive persons are also reported to be more susceptible to the Corona virus which devastated the world a few years ago. It has been reported that the risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19 was 30 per cent greater in people living with HIV compared to people without HIV infection. Also the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to health services in many countries. Disruption to HIV services, as high as 75 per cent were reported in some countries.
Presently the world is working to achieve the targets set under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-3) has a target to end the epidemic of HIV/AIDS by 2030. This will be achieved when the number of new HIV infections and ‘AIDS-related deaths’ decline by 90% between 2010 and 2030. WHO states that although the world has made significant progress in recent decades, but important global targets for 2020 too were not met. The world will need to redouble the efforts by providing HIV testing and treatment to the vast majority of people living with the virus and to reduce the amount of HIV in their bodies to undetectable levels.
Focus should be on pregnant women as if they get infected with HIV; chances are that it will also be transmitted to the new born child. The most vulnerable groups like the transgender. LGBTQ population and the sex workers should also be targeted to reduce transmission. Sex education for both the sexes is also a necessity to make them aware of the disease and its various modes of transmission. As the virus attacks our immune system, any sort of Malnutrition has a compound effect on the HIV patients. Energy requirement of adults and children with HIV is about 10-30% and 50-100% more respectively. This should be taken care of. The production and supply of Anti-retroviral drugs should be ensured continuously without any disruptions in supply chain. Practice ABC i. e Abstinence, Being faithful with our partners and Condom usage. Studies revealed that the use of Cs have played an important role in bringing down the new AIDS infections in the last 25 years. Special campaigns focusing on importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, mental wellbeing, self care, adolescent health and gender awareness should be undertaken. No girl should be denied the education and information she needs to help stay safe. Discrimination and violence against girls must be tackled as a human rights and health emergency.
This year the theme of World AIDS Day is, ‘Take the rights Path: My Health, My Right’ The theme underscores the need that everyone’s right to access to the health services they need, including HIV prevention, treatment and care services when and where they need them should be protected, honoured and an enabling environment should be created for that. Protecting the right to health means ensuring that health care is available to everyone, without any discrimination, regardless of their HIV status, background, and gender or where they live. Though progress has been made, challenges in access remain across the Region. Since 1988, Dec. 1 each year has been celebrated each year as World AIDS Day to bring greater awareness to the global epidemic of AIDS and the spread of HIV. In 1980s the three factors that defined the HIV epidemic were fear, stigma and ignorance. Division, disparity and disregard for human rights are among the failures that allowed HIV to become and remain a global health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated inequities and disruptions to services, making the lives of many people living with HIV more challenging. Dec. 01 reminds us that HIV is still very much prevalent and that there is still a vital need to fight collectively, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education revolving around HIV/AIDS. The day besides depicting our commitment to fight this challenge is an opportunity to show solidarity and stand with the millions of people living with this deadly virus worldwide.
The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at pkumar6674@gmail.com