AIDS can be eradicated by 2030 with the support of local communities – Kommersant
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The UN estimates that by 2030, it is possible to achieve AIDS-free public health, “but only if communities on the ground receive all the support they need from governments and donors.” This is stated in the published today report Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) “Leadership to Communities!”, which coincides with World AIDS Day.
The report’s authors provide specific examples of how local communities around the world have achieved success in the fight against AIDS and even changes in government policy aimed at helping those who are sick and preventing the disease. Thus, thanks to public campaigns, it was possible to facilitate access to generic HIV drugs: now the average cost of therapy per patient is less than $70 per year in many countries, and not $25 thousand, as it was in 1995. For example, community organizations in Nigeria are implementing programs that have increased access to HIV treatment by 64% and doubled the use of HIV prevention measures.
In Namibia, members of the self-funded youth project Empowerment Group are using e-bikes to deliver antiretroviral drugs and food to sick young people and provide them with moral support. In China, local NGOs have developed smartphone apps that allow self-testing. As a result, the number of HIV tests across the country more than quadrupled from 2009 to 2020. And this is only a small part of the projects that are being implemented around the world today.
In its report, UNAIDS reminds that every minute around the world one person dies due to AIDS, every week 4,000 girls and young women become infected with HIV, and of the 39 million people living with HIV, 9.2 million do not have access to life-saving treatment. The organization calls for supporting the leadership role of local communities, fully providing them with finances and not hindering their activities.
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