World AIDS Day: we have a long way to go to protect the vulnerable, says activist
Ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December 2022, HIV activist and Unitaid board member Maureen Murenga has shared powerful personal testimony to encourage more urgency in the fight against the illness.
Referring to a recent UNAIDS report which indicated that the world’s AIDS response is in danger, with rising new infections and deaths in many parts of the world, Ms. Murenga explained that adolescent girls and young women are still disproportionately affected by HIV.
“(It) is really saddening because when I was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago I was an ado(lescent) and a young woman and I thought that 20 years later we would be telling a different story and not the same sad story,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Treatment challenges
Ms. Murenga, a Kenyan national who represents communities living with HIV, faced hostility and stigma when she was diagnosed with the virus in the early 2000s. Through her organization, the Lean On Me Foundation, adolescent girls and young women living with HIV receive care and support, but inequalities remain in the global approach to treatment and prevention.
“We are still seeing a lot of new infections”, she said. “It means that the treatment is not reaching everyone and where it is, people are not adhering to treatment.”
Nonetheless, progress has been made, particularly in identifying infections, Ms. Murenga said, recalling the torment of her wait for a diagnosis, and the fact that she needed to get herself tested five times before she could accept that she had HIV.
Support structures lacking
“During the time I was diagnosed with HIV, there was a delay in getting results,” she said. “You’d be tested and then you would wait for two weeks to get your results. And that delay was – it was a very difficult time for someone to wait that long.”
According to UNAIDS, adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years are three times more likely to acquire HIV than adolescent boys and young men in sub-Saharan Africa. “The driving factor is power,” the UN agency said, citing a study which showed that enabling girls to stay in school until they complete secondary education “reduces their vulnerability to HIV infection by up to 50 per cent.
Not a death sentence any more
In 2021, Unitaid noted that more than 38 million people globally were living with HIV, 1.5 million people were newly infected with HIV and 650,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses.
Despite these stark figures, Ms. Murenga insists that HIV is no longer a “death sentence”. Now, “people can diagnose much faster”, she insisted. “We even have diagnosis like self-test kits where you can do it in confidential and in privacy.”
The last 20 years have also seen significant innovations that have ensured the suitability of treatment regimes for younger HIV patients, albeit with some caveats, Ms. Murenga noted.
“We didn’t have treatment for children and my son was also diagnosed with HIV. So that meant that I could not take drugs to save my live and leave my child to die. So, I used to improvise and divide my tablet into two and give (it to) the child. But then I didn’t know whether it was affecting his body organs I didn’t know if the dosage was okay, but I just did it to ensure that he did not die.”
She added: “It took us a while to get medication for children. And even when it came, it wasn’t very child-friendly. And just recently, we have paediatric dolutegravir which is child-friendly but it is the only one, the so children don’t have a variety in case of resistance.”
ends
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 November 20222022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
Two years of Gaza-Israel war bring ‘indescribable’ pain: UN humanitarians
Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
1
1
1
Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , ICRC
Quadcopter victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital
UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday delivered his oral update to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the human rights situation in Haiti.
The High Commissioner welcomed Wednesday’s decision of the UN Security Council to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission by transitioning to the Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, stating it is a strong signal of international support for the Haitian people.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
The ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza City continues to overwhelm the war-torn enclave’s medical professionals, with four more hospitals forced to shut down this month alone, the UN World Health Organization said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A UN Human Rights report released today details the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained since Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine in 2022.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Sudan war: Life-saving cholera vaccination campaign begins in Darfur
Amid the devastating war in Sudan, UN aid teams are overcoming major obstacles to curb a cholera outbreak claiming lives across the country, with young children particularly at risk.
2
1
2
Edited News , B-roll | UN WOMEN
Women and girls still reeling from Afghanistan's recent deadly earthquake face even greater suffering rebuilding their lives and livelihoods without much more help from the international community, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Rising civilian casualties, growing ethnic violence and the grim humanitarian situation in Sudan underscore how the crisis there is deepening, according to a UN Human rights report published today.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
United Nations agencies staff demonstrates on Place des Nations in Geneva to denounce the killing of their colleagues in Gaza.