UNAID’s ANNUAL HIV-AID REPORT

Why in News

An UNAIDS annual update released last week highlights that poverty and gender inequality remain barriers to achieving the 2030 target.

UN Target

• In 2016, nations at the UN General Assembly built a consensus and set an ambitious target to eliminate AIDS by 2030.
• The decision taken at the United Nations Assembly floor led to a number of positive effects. Starting from increased research on the prevention and treatment of the disease.
• It helped in bringing down the mortality rate in AIDS patients remarkably. But there are still a number of issues which limit nations to achieve the aforesaid target.

Findings of the Report

• The reports highlighted that a number of lower- and middle-income countries have worked on substantially increasing their overall health budgets. But the funds required to addressed issues related to AIDS are majorly dependent on funds from external sources.
• There is skewed inequality faced by these vulnerable patients. This inequality is significantly higher in areas like western Asia and large parts of Africa.
• Even though there is no cure currently available for AIDS, the advancement in medical science has made it possible for the patients to live longer and live healthier with limited chances of virus being transmitted.
• Most of the heterosexual men prevent themselves to get tested for HIV or seek treatment for it. This is majorly triggered by the psychological and sociological idea of ‘hyper masculinity’ among men.
• It has also highlighted that based on research, the level of HIV treatment received by females is also below optimal levels in certain areas. At the same time, the viral suppression rate among children is very low at 46% .
• A little more than 40 per cent of the districts with high HIV incidence in the Sub-Sahara Africa are covered with dedicated prevention programmes.

Challenges faced in the eradication of AIDS

• Majority of the patients which belong to the poor and marginalised section of the society are left unattended and their concerns unaddressed in the larger scheme of things.
• Stigmatisation is one reason why the efforts towards elimination of AIDS have been repeatedly thwarted. It is also one of the leading social issues for the patients suffering from AIDS.
• The medical knowledge about the prevention and treatment of the diseases is highly skewed in favour of a bunch of developed countries. Whereas, the maximum patients are from the countries which lack this knowledge and the required medical infrastructure.
• The funds received from external sources are inadequate to meet AIDS related expenditure. These countries themselves find it difficult to generate revenue for the same purpose.
• Issues of deficient supply of drugs and related medical supplements have also plagued the healthcare system, which even led to protests by the public in recent times.

Way Forward

• The most important reform needed is to bring down the gender disparity in access to medical care. As 76 per cent of men patients have the more contained form of the disease compared to 67 per cent of women with HIV.
• A number of existing gaps need to be fulfilled in the basic HIV prevention programs and supportive programs for adolescent girls and young women in the areas highly affected regions.
• More Anti-AIDS Programs based on a mixture of science and gender-equality communication, public health extension and community involvement need to be implemented.
• Civil Society organizations need to be made a core part of the prevention program as they can effectively work at the grassroot level, while providing first hand relevant information.
• The panacea lies in empowering and generating awareness among the poor and marginalized sections of the society. Only when they are empowered and aware can they properly avail the benefits provided by the government machinery.