4 years after MH17 Downing, advocates urge continued attention to the AIDS crisis: NPR

A little over four years ago, on July 17, 2014, six delegates to the International AIDS Conference died in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over eastern Ukraine .

killed hours after taking off from Amsterdam.

International investigations concluded that the missile that shot down the jet came from the Russian army, which denied any involvement.

This year, Amsterdam is the place where thousands of experts in public health and global development come together to the International AIDS Conference.

"I hope people will remember them," said Owen Ryan, outgoing executive director of the International AIDS Society, about colleagues he lost in the community research on AIDS prevention and activism that day.

Ryan told Korva Coleman of NPR that he wanted their legacy to help focus attention on AIDS as a continuing crisis, "and know that it's important that we continue this fight. "

About 37 million people worldwide were living with HIV / AIDS in 2017, according to the World Health Organization. The group claims that 940,000 people died of HIV-related illnesses last year.

On the eve of the 22nd International AIDS Conference, Ryan spoke with NPR about the current state of the AIDS crisis around the world and why it is important to continue to fund HIV / AIDS efforts. prevention of AIDS

. ] Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society who died on MH17

It is difficult to briefly describe how Joep really transformed the HIV movement. A very great way however was how he made the world aware of the need for antiretroviral therapy in Africa. He was one of the first researchers, scientists, activists who forced donor governments to deal with the problems in Africa – and to get rid of the obstacles that prevented people from benefiting from life-saving treatments.

Thanks for many of the millions of people who are under treatment today.

On what can slow down the current rate of AIDS infections

Honestly, what we need to do is that sense of indulgence that has settled on many of us. In many parts of the world, one really feels that AIDS is over, and that is really far from being true.

That's one of the reasons why Joep is missing the most right now – he had an incredible ability to tell the truth to power. it does not matter who he is talking to. He just knew how to get right to them and say, "What you believe is not true and we need more money for that."

On developing drugs for stop AIDS

For the first time, we are conducting a large-scale clinical trial of vaccines in South Africa. And South Africa is one of those countries where, if we can get it, we can do it right in many places of the world.

But until we receive more patients in the short term, we will continue to try to catch up. So we hope we can do both things at the same time: get people to treatment, and then longer-term prevention options

On particular regions where the AIDS crisis is developing ]

Eastern Europe and Central Asia are at the center of this conference. You have seen that, over time, the savings have improved and the donors have returned. And with them to move away has left the political will.

So, in many places, and this also includes Russia, you have seen the epidemic come back with force. And you see in urban centers and rural areas people who are completely out of treatment and this massive explosion of new infections and I think people just do not realize it.

Prevent future epidemics

We must always be aware and that is the exact moment when you take the pulse of epidemiology as you start to see problems occur . We need to fund the systems that keep us vigilant against the next big disease – because we know it will happen.

We saw this with Ebola, we have seen it with SARS in the past. We need to keep things like the CDC and the WHO – we have to keep them vibrant and strong and pay attention to all that.