Complacency has no place in the treatment of HIV / AIDS

Photo illustration of John Lyman

Contrary to popular belief, the war on AIDS is not over. Considered one of the worst public health crises of the century, it claimed the lives of nearly 41,920 people at its peak in 1993. In 1999, nearly 700,000 people were killed by the virus.

With the invention of combined treatment plans and more in-depth scientific research, AIDS is no longer a death sentence. More and more people are being screened, so fewer people develop AIDS and die from it. As a result, people began to think that the disease had been completely eradicated in the United States, but research statistics have proven otherwise.

According to a report released in July 2018 by the World Health Organization, 36 million people would have the disease in that state alone and nearly one million people would have died in the year last. More importantly, infection rates are rising and are particularly high among the Latin American and Latin American LGBTQ community.

Even in today's world, the disease and the care needed are still strongly stigmatized. But what people do not realize is that the refusal to touch the disease intrinsically means a lack of security for those infected and a lack of quality care. Ignoring the problem and refusing to provide quality care is at the root of the epidemic and will likely lead to another. Ending AIDS requires increased structural interventions, adequate funding for the Ryan White CARE Act, and educational efforts to eliminate the stigma surrounding the disease.

Since the 1980s and 1990s epidemics, stigma has been the biggest barrier to universal access to treatment and support. According to Jonathan Mann, former head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Program on Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, stigma was the "third epidemic".stigma, discrimination, blame and denial. "Were the most difficult aspects to treat, but their reduction was essential to" prevent HIV transmission and mitigate the effects of the disease on individuals, families and communities. "

Studies have shown this fear of stigma and discrimination, which may also be related to fear of violence, discourages people living with HIV from disclosing their status to their family members and badual partners and undermines their ability and willingness to access treatment and to stick to it.

In a project by Horizons and USAID and the International Center for Research on Women, four specific types of stigma were identified:

1. Inappropriate fear of contagion
2. Negative judgments about people living with HIV
3. Stigma or discrimination
4. Compound stigma

The most common stigma reduction interventions focus on changing attitudes, behaviors and knowledge at the individual level.

The second barrier to universal access to treatment and support is an administration that is reluctant to provide adequate funding for research and treatment. Nearly 20 years after the first epidemic, we still face an administration and citizens who are reluctant to welcome those in need. Because people are not dying in large numbers, many believe that the war on AIDS is over and that there is no reason to continue channeling money. This same feeling, coupled with intense homophobia, has also reintegrated our government.

The Trump administration, during fiscal year 2017-2018, proposed cutting funding for research and funding on HIV / AIDS. The administration has proposed reducing CDC HIV prevention programs by $ 149 million and $ 27 million, as well as eliminating Ryan White's HIV training and education centers and programs. special projects of national importance. Trump also proposed to eliminate the Minority AIDS Initiative Fund from the Secretary of Health and Social Services (HHS), to reduce funding for the Minority Initiative's programs on AIDS from the SAMHSA (Administration of Anti-Substance Abuse Services) and to eliminate housing opportunities for people with AIDS (HOPWA). Housing and Urban Development Program (HUD) of $ 26 million.

These severe budgets are likely to cause extreme damage to the general health of the country. If the overall goal is to reduce the rising rates of infection and eradicate the virus, the funding can not be cut. The reduction in funds could lead to a sharp rise in the price of drugs. As it stands, PrEP and PEP are expensive for people with and without insurance. But without sufficient funding, prices will rise further, making access to people more difficult. Therefore, the best way to protect people with the disease is to protect the Ryan White CARE law.

Adopted by Congress on August 8, 1990, Ryan White's Global Resources on AIDS (CARE) Act is the largest federally funded program for people living with AIDS. The act is named after Ryan White, a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who contracted the virus with the help of a stained needle during the treatment of his hemophilia.

The CARE Act provides people living with the virus with a comprehensive care setting that includes primary health care and support services. Most of the funds in the law are intended for the provision of basic medical and basic badistance services to uninsured and insured persons. But the funds are also Towards "Technical badistance, clinical training and development of innovative models of care".

There will indeed be a day when the two viruses will be gone and no one will ever die again. But the only way to do that is to pay attention to alarming rates of HIV and AIDS. Complacency has no place in the management of an illness, especially a disease that has claimed the lives of nearly 700,000 people. Complacency is what caused the first outbreak and could probably cause the next. We must be proactive about this virus and keep up the pressure on the current administration to increase funding for research. Finally, we must increase awareness of the disease and launch educational programs to eliminate the stigma surrounding it.

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