World AIDS Day Raises Awareness of Inequalities and Barriers in HIV Care

The 34th World AIDS Day, on December 1, 2022, aims to raise awareness of the gaps in care for people living with HIV and access to testing, prevention and treatment. The day also includes many fundraising and awareness-raising initiatives, as well as opportunities to remember those who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2022 is ‘Test yourself: Achieving equity to end HIV’, with a particular focus on accountability and action in communities disproportionately affected by HIV. Importantly, World AIDS Day 2022 takes place amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing monkeypox outbreak. Both affect many of the same communities as the HIV pandemic.

Worldwide, 1.5 million people are newly infected with HIV each year, including more than 35,000 new infections in the United States. Stigma, discrimination, and other structural factors still bear most of the burden on specific groups and geographic regions.

The past 34 years of research have led to important discoveries and innovations in HIV diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Treatment is vastly improved, allowing people living with HIV to live fuller lives and preventing new infections. Patients living with HIV and community-based organizations are integral to these efforts.

The 2022 theme also highlights the need for HIV testing.

“Everyone needs to be tested for HIV and know their status,” said Kay Hayes, MPA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Communicable Diseases and director of the MPA’s Office of Communicable Diseases and HIV/AIDS Policy. said in a press release. “We are advancing a status-neutral approach to HIV testing that puts equity at the forefront. It should be linked to needed HIV prevention and treatment services, including strategies to address barriers.”

Many efforts are being made to reduce inequalities and reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been working in more than 50 countries to tackle HIV/AIDS for the past 19 years, helping countries fight HIV and other health threats such as COVID. We use programs designed to help build prevention, detection, and response. -19.

“The greatest public health asset and greatest public health response is PEPFAR,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, US Global AIDS Coordinator and PEPFAR leader, in a press release. “Through cooperation and partnerships, we have made considerable progress towards ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but the last mile of the response is the greatest challenge. , to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, focusing on regions where gaps still exist among critical and vulnerable populations.”

In the United States, the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States (EHE) initiative aims to dramatically reduce the number of new HIV cases. President Joseph Biden unveiled an updated national HIV/AIDS strategy on World AIDS Day 2021. This strategy includes a complementary framework for stakeholders to address HIV in the most affected populations and communities.

“On this World AIDS Day, we recognize the role equity plays in the success or failure of a country’s response to HIV. Provide equitable access to HIV testing, prevention, care, treatment and research. is the key to ending the HIV epidemic,” said Harold Phillips, MRP’s director of the White House National AIDS Policy Office, in a press release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our resolve and ability to focus on ending the HIV epidemic. Put equity in the HIV response at the center by ensuring that all people living with HIV and at risk of being infected have access to appropriate HIV testing, treatment and prevention services. I have to.”

reference

World AIDS Day 2022: Try Yourself: Achieving Equity to End HIV. News Release. HIV.gov; October 24, 2022. https://www.hiv.gov/blog/world-aids-day-2022-putting-ourselves-to-the-test-achifying-equity-to-end-hiv