The global fight against HIV/AIDS at the crossroads after the defeat of COVID-19
HAccording to an alarming report on Wednesday, following an alarming report on how Pandemic caused by covid-19 and other global crises are jeopardizing efforts to end AIDS.
Worldwide, the multi-year decline in the number of new HIV infections is leveling off. Worse still, cases are starting to rise in regions of Asia and the Pacific where they were previously contracted, according to the United Nations agency leading the global fight against AIDS.
The number of lives saved on HIV treatment last year increased more slowly than in the previous decade. Inequality is widening. Every two minutes in the last year, a teenager or young woman was newly infected – and in sub-Saharan Africa, they are three times more likely to contract HIV than boys and girls of the same age. And 650,000 people died of AIDS-related diseases last year, report Find.
“This is an alarm for the world to say COVID-19 Matthew Kavanagh, deputy executive director of UNAIDS said.
The UN has set a target of 370,000 fewer new HIV infections by 2025. Last year, there were about 1.5 million – meaning a major shift will be needed to get close to that goal. However, low- and middle-income countries are $8 billion short of needed capital, as international aid is also falling, the report found.
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Things can get even worse when HIV testing is slowed down or even stopped in many places when COVID-19 hit the targetpotentially causing more viruses to go uncounted.
“People are exhausted by epidemics and pandemics,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s leading AIDS expert. “We have to fight twice as hard to get HIV back on the radar screen where it belongs.”
The serious news comes as the International AIDS Conference begins this week in Montreal – where some promising science is being reported. Among the highlights:
– A man who has been living with HIV for about 30 years will go into long-term remission and could be one of the few people worldwide ever considered cured, thanks to a special bone marrow transplant.
That rigorous treatment is only an option for HIV patients who also develop leukemia and need transplanted blood stem cells to fight cancer. This man’s organ donor happened to carry a rare genetic mutation that makes the newly transplanted cells resistant to HIV.
Read more: What researchers have learned about whether it can ‘cure’ HIV
The man, now 66 years old, underwent a transplant in 2019. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic started and he decided to continue on HIV drug treatment until he could get vaccinated. Jana Dickter of the City of Hope, a cancer research center in California, said he has now stopped taking anti-AIDS drugs for 17 months with no signs of HIV infection.
That makes him the oldest and longest-lived person with HIV to undergo this potentially curable transplant. Scientists hope these rare cases may provide clues to eventually lead to better care for more people.
Also on Wednesday, University of Barcelona researchers reported that a woman’s immune system appeared to have kept her HIV undetectable for 15 years. This woman was part of a 2006 study that included several immune-boosting treatments but it’s unclear why she’s so healthy.
– Another study presented Wednesday found that taking antibiotics after unprotected sex can reduce the risk of getting gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis.
Those sexually transmitted diseases are caused by different types of bacteria. They are a growing threat, especially in people who also have – or are at high risk for HIV infection.
Read more: For HIV/AIDS survivors, COVID-19 has reawakened old trauma — and recreated the call for change.
In Seattle and San Francisco, researchers gave study participants – gay men, bisexual men and transgender women – the antibiotic doxycycline with instructions for a single dose over 72 hours. whenever they have sex without using a condom. Annie Luetkemeyer of the University of California, San Francisco said people have seen their risk of infection drop by more than 60%.
Before experts recommend that strategy, they’ll need to know if it could exacerbate antibiotic resistance, exposing themselves to sexually transmitted diseases or other bacteria that people encounter. be more difficult to treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they would check that carefully, but it posted Online some notes for anyone considering taking this doxycycline in the meantime.
– The UNAIDS report shows that the fight against HIV is becoming more difficult, but there are still some bright spots. Researchers reported Wednesday that Botswana, which has been hard hit by HIV, has met its key target by 2025: 95% of people living with HIV know their status, more than 95% of those who know are receiving treatment. treated, and more than 95% of those treated showed signs of their virus being suppressed.
Kavanagh praised Botswana for dramatic policy changes that “have helped more and more people get care,” including free HIV drugs, a push for home HIV testing and same-sex relationship identification.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima says it’s not too late to get back on track despite COVID-19 continuing and Economic Crisis.
“Stopping AIDS will cost a lot less than not ending AIDS,” she said. “The actions needed to end AIDS are also key to overcoming other pandemics.”
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