The International AIDS Conference is starting this Wednesday in Montreal. The headline of the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS is “In Danger”. According to UNAIDS, the global fall in new HIV infections between 2020 and 2021 was just 3.6%, the weakest yearly decline since 2016. The gendered HIV effect has become more evident than ever under COVID.
According to UNAIDS, the global fall in new HIV infections between 2020 and 2021 was just 3.6%, which was the weakest yearly decline since 2016.
The organization issued a warning that the global trend toward prevention and treatment has stalled, endangering millions of lives.
“There were 1.5 million new HIV infections and 650,000 deaths from AIDS in 2021. According to UNAIDS Director Mary Mahy, this equates to 4,000 new HIV infections per day.
“That’s 4,000 individuals who will need to be tested, begin treatment, prevent spreading the disease to their relationships, and continue therapy throughout their lifetimes.” Additionally, it equals 1,800 fatalities every day from AIDS, or one death per minute.
The International AIDS Conference is starting this Wednesday in Montreal, and the headline of the most recent report from the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS is “In Danger.”
It demonstrates how new HIV infections are suddenly increasing where they had been declining, including in Asia and the Pacific, the areas with the most people on Earth. The tremendous development seen in East and Southern Africa in previous years was dramatically halted in 2021.
The pandemic has flourished during COVID-19, in mass displacement contexts, and other worldwide crises that have placed a strain on resources and changed development finance choices, to the disadvantage of HIV programs, despite excellent HIV treatment and instruments to prevent and detect infection.
If present trends continue, we anticipate that 1.2 million individuals will become HIV-positive in the year 2025. Again, it is three times the aim of 370.000 by 2025, according to Ms. Mahy.
Virus-avoiding advice
The voluntary male circumcision rate, which may lower male infection by 60%, has decreased over the previous two years, according to a UNAIDS study.
Over the same time span, the UN agency also saw a slowdown in the distribution of treatments. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is one of the most promising preventative measures since it reduces the chance of developing the virus after exposure.
According to the survey, the number of people who had access to PrEP quadrupled between 2020 and 2021, rising from roughly 820,000 to 1.6 million, mostly in Southern Africa. However, the number of individuals taking PrEP is still far below the UNAIDS goal of 10 million by 2025, since the cost makes it unaffordable for many people worldwide.
Significant disparities within and across nations have slowed down the HIV response, and the illness itself has increased vulnerabilities.
In 2021, a new infection will arise every two minutes in young women and adolescent girls, making them a group that will continue to be especially vulnerable.
With millions of girls dropping out of school, increases in adolescent pregnancies and gender-based violence, and disruptions to essential HIV treatment and prevention programmes, the gendered HIV effect, especially in Africa, has become more evident than ever under COVID.
Teenage girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa are three times more likely to get HIV than boys and young men.
School is the first step towards overcoming HIV.
According to studies, a girl’s chance of contracting HIV is greatly decreased when she attends and completes school. According to Ben Philips, Director of Communications at UNAIDS, “Millions of girls have been denied the opportunity to go to school as a result of the COVID crisis.” Millions of them might never return, and that has a damaging impact, as does the economic distress that has been caused by the pandemic.
Racial diagnostic inequalities have also increased the risk of HIV infection. In nations including the UK, the US, Canada, and Australia, declines in new HIV diagnoses have been bigger among white populations than among black and indigenous people.
Similar to that, Ms. Mahy said that in 2021, critical demographics like sex workers and their customers, homosexual people, individuals who inject drugs, and transgender people accounted for 70% of new HIV infections.
Legal changes are moving slowly.
Six nations are recognized by the UN as having done away with regulations that made same-sex relationships illegal.
At least nine countries have made it lawful to change names and gender identifiers without getting surgery to change one’s gender.
However, there hasn’t been enough progress made to eliminate the punitive laws that put LGBTI people, drug users who inject their substances, and sex workers at an increased risk of HIV infection and death.
According to Liana Moro, Technical Officer for Programme Monitoring and Reporting at UNAIDS, “We have seen nations change their legislation to authorise tougher sanctions in situations of HIV exposure.”
$8.3 billion dilemma
According to the research, national donors’ overseas development aid for HIV has decreased by 57% over the previous ten years, with the exception of the US, while their contributions to all other sectors have climbed by 28% over the same time.
By 2025, according to Ms. Moro, UNAIDS would need $29.3 billion. “In low-and middle-income nations, HIV programmes had access to $21.4 billion in 2021. Our 2025 goal is $8 billion away from being met.
HIV-positive adults and children.
According to UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, “it is still feasible for leaders to bring the response back on track to eliminate AIDS by 2030.” As opposed to not eliminating AIDS, ending AIDS will cost far less money. Importantly, the world will be better able to defend itself against the risks of future pandemics if the necessary steps are taken to eliminate AIDS.
According to UNAIDS predictions, 38.4 million people have HIV as of 2021. Seventy percent of them were getting care, and sixty percent were able to fend off the illness.
As part of the Sustainable Development Goals, UNAIDS integrates the efforts of 11 UN agencies, including UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, and WHO, and works closely with international and national partners to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030.
