WHO Director-General's opening remarks for World AIDS Day 2021 - 1 December 2021
GENEVA, 01 December 2021 / PRN Africa / -- Your Excellency Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health of Thailand,
Your Excellency Julia Imene Chanduro, Ambassador of Namibia and Chair of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board,
Your Excellency Stéphanie Seydoux, French Ambassador for Global Health,
My sister Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
The global HIV epidemic has faded from the headlines, but it is not over. Far from it.
On World AIDS Day, we commemorate those we have lost, and commit to protecting those at risk.
World AIDS Day is one day a year, but almost 38 million people around the world live with HIV every day.
It has been more than forty years since this novel virus emerged, and yet last year, an estimated 1.5 million people were newly infected with HIV, and nearly 700 thousand people died from causes related to AIDS.
It does not have to be this way.
We know we can do better, because we have made real progress in the two decades since the United Nations General Assembly held its first special session on HIV.
More than 28 million people around the world are now on antiretroviral therapy.
Eight countries achieved the 90–90–90 targets for testing, access, and viral suppression by the end of 2020, and several countries are nearing the new 95-95-95 targets set out in the Global AIDS Strategy this year.
Botswana has become the latest country – and the first high burden country, as well as the first from Africa – to request WHO certification for being on the path to elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
AIDS-related mortality has declined by nearly half since 2010.
And yet, while we have achieved so much, we still have a long road ahead.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, progress and funding for the HIV response had flatlined.
Already, many of the most at-risk populations were not being reached with HIV testing, prevention and care services, even as these key populations also face significant stigma and discrimination.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse, with the disruption of essential health services, including for HIV.
Compounding this is the fact that people with HIV are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
At the root of the AIDS crisis is inequality.
We have the tools to end the AIDS epidemic, if we use them well.
On Monday, UNAIDS issued a stark warning – that if we fail to act, we will see a resurgence of up to 7.7 million AIDS related deaths over the next 10 years.
But if we can meet the targets of the Global AIDS Strategy 2021 to 2026, and commit to our WHO global health sector strategies, 4.6 million lives could be saved.
Let me leave you with three priorities for all countries.
First, re-commit to end HIV by making it a political and budgetary priority.
That means preventing new infections, increasing access to treatment for those who need it, and fulfilling the promise to those on treatment, by making sure that access to the best ARVs continues without interruption.
The Call to Action for better and safer medicines for pregnant women, which WHO and partners are launching today, is an example of how we can fulfil this promise.
Second, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must restart essential health services, so that everyone, everywhere, has access to prevention, testing, treatment and care for HIV and COVID-19.
And third, concentrate efforts on marginalized populations that have been left behind.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives to HIV and COVID-19, and those who continue to face the threat of these diseases, to work towards more sustainable and resilient health systems to protect our communities into the future.
Ultimately, these two viruses, and the suffering they have caused, must serve as motivation for all of us to continue striving towards universal health coverage, so that all people, in all countries and communities, have access to all the health services they need, for all of the health threats they face.
I thank you.
SOURCE World Health Organization (WHO)
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