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 | UNHCR
News of another deadly shipwreck tragedy off the coast of Mauritania is a clear indication of the desperation people on the move continue to face as they attempt to escape strife, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Concerns continue to grow over the impact of a possible polio outbreak in Gaza, amid disastrous sanitary conditions and a lack of access to health care, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR , UNICEF
Poliovirus detected in Gaza sewage puts thousands at risk amid increasing ‘anarchy’ In Gaza, tests conducted by the Global Polio Laboratory Network have confirmed the presence of poliovirus in six sewage samples collected on 23 June from Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Renewed wave of deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza must stop – UN Human Rights Office
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Institutionalised forced labour by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea constitutes grave violations of human rights – UN report
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Time is running out for starving civilians in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, while talks involving the country’s warring parties continue in Geneva this week.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.