World AIDS Day 2020: Covid-19 disrupts HIV AIDS treatment

<p class="p1">The Coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on another deadly global scourge– AIDS. Ahead of World AIDS Day on Monday, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has published a sensational report, pointing out that HIV services across the world been disrupted because health workers are preoccupied with tackling Covid-19. Consequently, UNAIDS has fallen far short of its   2020 fast track target.</p>
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“The Covid-19 pandemic is having far-reaching effects on health systems and other public services. In many countries, HIV services have been disrupted, and supply chains for key commodities have been stretched. Around the world, fewer people are being diagnosed with HIV
and fewer people living with HIV are starting HIV treatment,” an official report published by UNAIDS said.
<p class="p1">This year, a fewer number of people received antiretroviral therapy, necessary to treat AIDS.. An estimated 26.0 million [25.1 million–26.2
million] people were on treatment as of mid-June [2020], up only 2.4% from an estimate of 25.4 million [24.5 million–25.6 million] at the end of 2019.</p>
<img class=" wp-image-32871 aligncenter" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Percentage-of-People-HIV-Aids-across-Country-300×244.png" alt="World AIDS Day 2020" width="502" height="408" />
<p class="p1">Across the globe, thirty-eight million people are living with HIV, with more than 12 million people waiting for life-saving HIV
treatment. In 2019, 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV and 690 000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses. This can upset
the UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3.3 ambitious target of eradicating AIDS by 2030.</p>
<p class="p1"><strong>Where Does India Stand?</strong></p>
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<p class="p1">India's track record of fighting AIDS has been impressive. As per the UNAIDS data, in 2017 India reported a healthy 46 per cent decline
in AIDS cases compared to 2010. The death rate also declined by 22 per during this period. However India’s prevalence record stands at 0.26
per against aglobal average of 0.2 per cent.</p>
<p class="p1">The most high-risk groups including female sex workers are much higher (up to 7 per cent). New HIV infections reached a peak in 1998 and have
since declined by 60%, although the total number of HIV-positive persons remains stable at 2.1 million,  probably due to the increased life expectancy following the prevalence of antiretroviral therapy.</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">You will NOT get <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HIV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HIV</a> from</p>
?standing by your friend
?drinking tea together
?hugging
?shaking hands
?showing that you care<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldAIDSDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldAIDSDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/1iVa7lIbRK">pic.twitter.com/1iVa7lIbRK</a>

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1333733237068357639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p class="p1">Presently, India has approximately 2.1 million HIV cases. In 2017, India has successfully passed  HIV/AIDS Bill as a law protecting the rights of HIV affected people. With this, the government has also implemented a ‘test and treat’ policy. Under this initiative, the government has taken the onus of providing treatment, as soon as a patient contracts the virus.</p>
<p class="p1">The government has also adopted the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV/AIDS and STI 2017 – 2024, with the aim of sharply reducing the incidence of AIDS. Testing is another focal area, which hopes to ensure that 95 per cent of the AIDS-affected people are aware of their status and benefit from treatment that suppresses viral load.</p>
<p class="p1">Another study published by Gilead Sciences with support from the AIDS society of India has concluded that because of the saturation focus on
Covid-19, persons at risk of contracting the HIV virus, are facing relative neglect. The study titled Impact of Covid-19 on access and access and delivery of HIV care in the Asia Pacific was conducted online from October to mid-November 2020 in 10 countries — in the Asia-Pacific region Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam by Kantar Health.</p>.