World AIDS day is celebrated on December 1 every year since 1988.
There are few things I felt like we should collectively remind ourselves today.
First, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.
HIV isn’t some kind of karmic punishment. It is a virus that is communicable and therefore travels between people. Certain types of activities may increase your risks, but these still don’t make you “responsible” for being sick. We wouldn’t blame a diabetic for their diabetes.
ITS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE SYMPTOMS.
Being HIV positive today doesn’t look like the horrible AIDS deaths that have been so heavily imprinted in our minds. The large majority of people don’t notice that anything is wrong with them in these early stages. It is not uncommon for people to live with HIV for up to ten years without realising they are carrying the virus. So get tested.
YOU CAN LIVE A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE.
Will you die? yes. But so will we all. In fact, you’re more likely to die from a car accident than from HIV. There can always be complications, just as there are with any chronic condition (like diabetes, for example), and you will be susceptible to the same medical conditions that affect all people. People who receive treatment and take it as prescribed have a good chance of living a long and healthy life. Even better, if people living with HIV are diagnosed early, before the virus has a chance to hurt the immune system too much, then they have every chance of having a near-normal life expectancy.
BEING HIV POSITIVE DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE AIDS.
Confusing HIV for AIDS or using them interchangeably is one of the most frequent mistakes made by people and even media outlets. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, but for most people, proper treatment and regular medical care keep their immune system strong enough to prevent them from ever developing AIDS. An HIV-positive test result means only that: You have HIV. AIDS is its own diagnosis, its the progression fo the disease without treatment and proper care.
IF YOU TEST POSITIVE…
Then begin treatment as soon as possible, like the day you get your positive result. Early HIV treatment has been shown to provide long-term advantages. Even if you don’t have symptoms, if your infection runs unchecked it can compromise your immune system.
WE ARE FIGHTING THE DISEASE NOT THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE IT! SO END THE STIGMA!
You can find help here and also here. Toll free line is 0800-100-066;
Enough from me. Read on to hear what the wonderful Winnie Byanyima had to say today….
World AIDS Day 2020 message from UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
Winifred Byanyima is an aeronautical engineer, politician, and diplomat.
Born in Uganda, Ms. Byanyima was elected for three terms and served eleven years in the Ugandan Parliament. She founded the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), a leading NGO in Uganda and has served at the African Union Commission and at the United Nations Development Programme as Director of Gender and Development. Ms. Byanyima is a signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement and has helped to broker and support women’s participation in peace processes in several African countries. As part of her drive to bring women’s perspectives into core development issues, she co-founded the Global Gender and Climate Alliance and chaired UN-wide task forces on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and climate change. She is the executive director of UNAIDS, effective November 2019.
Her message on World AIDS Day is crucial, Uganda currently registers more than 1000 new HIV cases every week. This is what she had to say:
World AIDS Day 2020 will be like no other.
COVID-19 is threatening the progress that the world has made in health and development over the past 20 years, including the gains we have made against HIV.
Like all epidemics, it is widening the inequalities that already existed.
Gender inequality, racial inequality, social and economic inequalities. We are becoming a more unequal world.
I am proud that over the past year the HIV movement has mobilised to defend our progress, to protect people living with HIV and other vulnerable groups and to push the coronavirus back.
Whether campaigning for multi-month dispensing of HIV treatment, organising home deliveries of medicines or providing financial assistance, food and shelter to at-risk groups, HIV activists and affected communities have again shown they are the mainstay of the HIV response. I salute you!
It is the strength within communities, inspired by a shared responsibility to each other, that has contributed in great part to our victories over HIV.
Today, we need that strength more than ever to beat the colliding epidemics of HIV and COVID-19.
Friends, in responding to COVID-19, the world cannot make the same mistakes it made in the fight against HIV, when millions in developing countries died waiting for treatment.
Even today, more than 12 million people are still waiting to get on HIV treatment and 1.7 million people became infected with HIV in 2019 because they could not access essential services.
That is why UNAIDS has been a leading advocate for a People’s Vaccine against the coronavirus.
Global problems need global solidarity.
As the first COVID-19 vaccine candidates have proven effective and safe, there is hope that more will follow, but there are serious threats to ensuring equitable access. We are calling on companies to openly share their technology and know-how and to wave their intellectual property rights so that the world can produce the successful vaccines at the huge scale and speed required to protect everyone and so that we can get the global economy back on track.
Our goal of ending the AIDS epidemic was already off track before COVID-19. We must put people first to get the AIDS response back on track. We must end the social injustices that put people at risk of contracting HIV. And we must fight for the right to health. There is no excuse for governments to not invest fully for universal access to health. Barriers such as up-front user fees that lock people out of health must come down.
As we approach the end of 2020, the world is in a dangerous place and the months ahead will not be easy.
Only global solidarity and shared responsibility will help us beat the coronavirus, end the AIDS epidemic and guarantee the right to health for all.
Thank you.
Winnie Byanyima
Executive Director of UNAIDS
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The second half of this article was originally posted on the UNAIDS website here.
Read more about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
Let us remember to educate each other, get tested and continue the fight against AIDS. Remember, the fight is against AIDS not the People who have AIDS.
Keep hanging onto hope_Naks.
