By KT Reporters
Ahead of World AIDS Day on Sunday, a new report by UNAIDS shows that the world can meet the agreed goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – but only if leaders protect the human rights of everyone living with and at risk of HIV. The report’s message is summed up in its title: “Take the rights path to end AIDS”.
The report shows that 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. To bring down the trajectory of the pandemic, it is imperative that lifesaving programmes can be reached without fear by all who need them.
Commenting in a statement shared along with the report, Winnie Byanyima the UNAIDS Executive Director of UNAIDS says there are still gross human rights violations that are affecting progress towards ending AIDS.
“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 the AIDS pandemic. To protect everyone’s health, we need to protect everyone’s rights.”
UNAIDS data shows that every day in 2023, 570 young women and girls aged between 15 and 24 acquired HIV. 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 peers.
According to the statement, criminalization and stigmatization of marginalized communities are obstructing access to life-saving HIV services. In the 2021 Political Declaration on Ending HIV/AIDS, countries committed to ensure that by 2025 less than 10% of countries have restrictive legal and policy frameworks that lead to the denial or limitation of access to HIV services. However, in 2023, 63 countries still had laws criminalizing same-sex relations, which activists say may lead to the denial of health services to these groups.
When it comes to the prevention of HIV, the report highlights that even as there are now long-acting medicines that only need to be injected a few times a year to prevent infection, these will only be effective if a human rights approach is taken to share the technology to bring down prices and enable production in every part of the world. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
