The quest to end the COVID-19 and HIV pandemic-the world

Opinion by

Winnie Byanima, Executive Director of UNAIDS

Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nigeria

When millions of people lost their jobs, Queen Kennedy got a new job. As a woman living with HIV in Nigeria, she responded to the call to become a local pharmacist. The blockade has reduced access to the treatment and prevention of HIV. However, through an international community initiative for women living with HIV West Africa, Queen and her colleagues are delivering HIV medicine to their homes. We also hold adolescent HIV prevention sessions.

“As a woman living with HIV, I was happy to accept this job because I knew the true meaning of not receiving antiretroviral therapy,” said Kennedy. “People can develop drug-resistant strains, the long-term effects of which can be worse than COVID-19.”

Such stories remind us that COVID-19 did not encounter a world free of health crises. Today, we are witnessing COVID-19 clashing with a 40-year-old HIV pandemic that has killed 37 million people worldwide. At the same time, most developing countries are still tackling the outbreaks of recurrent and emerging infectious diseases that have disrupted their lives and left long-lasting scars. In some areas, these health emergencies are endemic, caused by interrelated vulnerabilities, inequality and inequality.

Almost two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, from October 24th to 26th, cross-sectoral global health leaders will meet in Berlin, Germany to attend the World Health Summit. How would you like to take advantage of this moment? What lessons can we learn from responding to COVID-19, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, Ebola and other health emergencies? And how can we strengthen our health systems around the world and build a global health architecture that will serve us all without leaving anyone behind?

The initial response to HIV took place in emergency mode, but as we rapidly build our capabilities, AIDS response builds clinics and laboratories, expands the health and science workforce, and Supports a community-driven system that was important for COVID-19 support. We now know that these factors are essential for the prevention, preparation and response of a broader pandemic. As a result, life-saving HIV treatments have been provided to 27.5 million people worldwide, reducing AIDS-related deaths by 47% since 2010. Global solidarity and shared responsibility, science, civil society activities, politics and the private sector were important in achieving this progress.

The HIV infrastructure has helped make COVID-19’s response quick, decisive, and agile. Countries such as South Africa, India and Nigeria have reused and relocated this capability to expand surveillance, testing and community-led responses. This was especially important in Nigeria. In Nigeria, at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only four laboratories with the diagnostic capabilities of COVID-19. There are currently more than 150, diverting some existing HIV and tuberculosis laboratories and through other state-led interventions. One important lesson from previous pandemics to this is to build an integrated response from the beginning.

However, this infrastructure and capacity is not everywhere. And most worrisome, we are witnessing inequality between countries regarding access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Lessons and solidarity from AIDS control are ignored, as COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing technology and know-how remains in the hands of a small number of pharmaceutical companies and vaccine manufacturers. Over 60% of Europeans are vaccinated, but only 4% of Africans are vaccinated. It is unlikely that 9 out of 10 people in developing countries will take this year. We need to regain the benefits of solidarity and interconnection that will allow us all to recover from this pandemic and build a better future. The pandemic and the post-pandemic world need humanity in which all life is valued.

Pandemics thrive on artificial inequality. These can be closed and must be closed. At the intersection of COVID-19 and HIV, find the most risky and vulnerable people. They were the first to lose their livelihoods and continue to face unequal access to health care and social services. Inequality in access to technology has further exacerbated the impact of COVID-19. It created a division of who could continue to work and earn, and who could continue their research.

Registration of vaccinations via digital platforms has excluded those who do not have access to those platforms. Vaccination through fixed facilities can rule out marginalized communities that are not well serviced by traditional health care systems and increase access inequality. To end AIDS and COVID-19, we need to end inequality. This requires a society-wide approach in which the community is central to prevention, preparation and response.

The pace of the COVID-19 epidemic highlights the need for urgent response. Ebola quickly overwhelmed the health care systems of West African-affected countries, but subsequently lost the country’s ability to respond. Leverage regional and regional capabilities to develop a national health system to prevent, detect, and respond to not just one emerging infectious disease, but any emerging infectious disease, with ongoing response to COVID-19 and HIV We need to focus on strengthening.

If you do this right, many things will be won. If you make a mistake, the global health deficit will grow.

As global leaders, we have several obligations for the next generation. We owe them an adaptive system that can address the multifaceted aspects of pandemic prevention and preparation. We owe them a comprehensive and integrated medical service that is used through universal health insurance to ensure that everyone has access to health at a fair and affordable price. We owe them true global partnerships and collaborations for better data and knowledge sharing. Local and global analytics need to be expedited to inform innovation and decision making. And we owe them to short-term public health responses and long-term development approaches that take into account the vulnerabilities of the region.

Ultimately, a synergistic, coordinated public health and development response is needed to end the current two conflicting pandemics and prepare for the next.