On World AIDS Day, we celebrate progress and promote equality – The Ukiah Daily Journal

Dr. David Gochev

December 1st is World AIDS Day. This is an international day dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and remembering those who have died from the disease. World AIDS Day began as an awareness campaign by the World Health Organization in his late 1980s, when I was just beginning my career. Now, as I approach retirement age and look back over the past few decades, I am amazed at how much progress we have made in understanding, treating and preventing HIV/AIDS. Many of my patients believe they will even be cured in their lifetime.

Despite all progress, 1.5 million people became infected with HIV last year and 650,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses. So much remains to be done, especially when it comes to improving access to treatment, testing and prevention around the world. This year’s theme is equalizing to overcome the inequalities that reduce access to care.

early years

After completing his residency in the late 1980s, he practiced as a physician with the National Health Service in Guerneville, California. Doctors there cared for patients with a mysterious and deadly disease later identified as AIDS. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This is a virus that attacks the cells of the immune system, leaving people susceptible to infections that can quickly become life-threatening.

In the early days of my practice, I cared for many AIDS patients, most of whom were gay men under the age of 30. Sadly, AIDS has only exacerbated people’s fears and prejudices against homosexuality. Already marginalized groups were forced to manage the double heartbreak of their own illness while losing loved ones. It was the worst because most of my patients died.

It wasn’t until activists put pressure on the Food and Drug Administration and drug companies to develop a remedy that options began to emerge. Medicines were rushed to market without being thoroughly tested and were not as safe or effective as they should have been. that’s what we had. It took me about ten years before I started to understand things.

Effective Treatment Changes Everything

Progress finally began in the late 1990s. Today, people diagnosed with HIV early and receiving consistent treatment have a life expectancy similar to that of people without HIV. For many of the 200 or so people participating in the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS program at MCHC Health Center, HIV is the least of their problems as long as they take their daily medication. .

Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to testing and treatment, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa. That’s why we use World AIDS Day to raise awareness. Little did you know that by 2021, nearly 6 million people will be living with HIV. If people can be diagnosed early, they will respond better to treatment and slow the global spread of the virus.

All adults should be tested for HIV at least once. People with risk factors such as condomless sex, needle sharing, and other sexually transmitted diseases should be tested at least annually. For high-risk people, there are preventive treatments in the form of oral drugs and injections that reduce the chance of contracting HIV. We need to disseminate information about these new drugs and train more health care providers on how to prescribe them.

It’s amazing how far we’ve come since I started my career. I am currently caring for several patients in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, many of whom have been infected for decades. Thankfully, at least some of them survived suboptimal treatment in the worst years of the epidemic and live rich and fulfilling lives, thanks in large part to advances in modern medicine.

remember what you lost

As part of World AIDS Day, we also mourn the more than 40 million people who have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic. Their stories keep us moving forward. World AIDS Day and global awareness have made incredible progress, but if you step off the gas, this virus will come back full force. We have not eradicated HIV — At least not yet. It is only a matter of time before we continue to expand access to prevention, testing and treatment for all.

Dr. Gorchoff is a primary care provider for the Ryan White Program at MCHC Health Centers. MCHC Health Centers are local, nonprofit, federally accredited medical centers that provide medical, dental, and behavioral health care to the people of Lake and Mendocino counties.