Regain lost ground on war against HIV/Aids
What you need to know:
- Those living with HIV suffer double-jeopardy in that their immunity is severely compromised and so when they contract Covid-19, they lack the capacity to fight it off.
Today, the world marks the annual World Aids Day, which is dedicated to mobilising governments to enhance the fight against the pandemic. However, this comes against a distressful context this year.
Late last year, the deadly coronavirus struck in China and within months, ravaged the entire world. Things have never been the same.
The world has since been pushed into a race to get treatment for coronavirus that has infected more than 62 million people and killed about 1.5 million. In Africa, infection stands at 2.1 million and more than 50,000 deaths. In Kenya, there are about 84,000 reported cases with more than 1,400 deaths.
Coronavirus has imposed a heavy strain on health systems across the world. Health budgets have been recast and resources channelled towards stopping the spread of the virus. Containment measures such as lockdowns, closure of schools and working-from-home have drastically cut national revenues and thrown economies into the doldrums.
Covid-19
No cure has been found and the threat of the epidemic remains dire, getting worse by the day.
It is against this background that the world is marking this year’s World Aids Day, whose theme is, ‘Ending the HIV/Aids Epidemic: Resilience and Impact’.
The challenge is that the world has shifted focus to Covid-19 and that is hurting activities and initiatives erstwhile directed towards eliminating the Aids pandemic. Financial resources, scientific researches and health systems are concentrated in containing coronavirus.
Thus, the HIV/Aids pandemic that has devastated the world for nearly four decades and whose only recourse is retrovirals, is losing out. Patients living with the virus hardly get the attention they deserve in terms of medical and personal care.
Those living with HIV suffer double-jeopardy in that their immunity is severely compromised and so when they contract Covid-19, they lack the capacity to fight it off.
So, today, governments and the international community have to rethink strategies so far deployed to end HIV and Aids. They should step up the campaigns and ensure that the war against Aids is not lost under the dark shadows of Covid-19.
