Communities Make the Difference
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), communities of people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV are the frontline of progress in the HIV response. They connect people with person-centered public health services, build trust, innovate, monitor implementation of policies and services, and hold providers accountable.However, communities are also facing many challenges that hinder their leadership potential. These include funding shortages, policy and regulatory barriers, capacity constraints, and human rights violations. These obstacles prevent communities from reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as sex workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, transgender people, and prisoners, who bear the highest burden of HIV infection.
To unleash the full potential of community leadership, the UNAIDS calls for the following actions:
- Communities’ leadership roles need to be made core in all HIV plans and programmes and in their formulation, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. “Nothing about us without us.”
- Communities’ leadership roles need to be fully and reliably funded to enable the required scale up, and be properly supported and remunerated. “Not ending AIDS is more expensive than ending it.”
- Barriers to communities’ leadership roles need to be removed. An enabling regulatory environment is needed which facilitates communities’ role in provision of HIV services, ensures civil society space, and protects the human rights of all, including of marginalized communities, to advance the global HIV response. “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower.”
World AIDS Day Events
Around the world, communities are leading World AIDS Day events and activities, showcasing their achievements, challenges, and demands. Through photos and videos shared on social media and aggregated by UNAIDS, people can witness the diversity and solidarity of the global HIV movement, and hear communities’ calls for action.Other Post You May Be Interested In.
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Some of the events include:
The good news is that HIV/AIDS can be prevented and treated with effective interventions. Here are some of the ways to protect yourself and others from HIV/AIDS:
To join the movement to end AIDS, you can visit the UNAIDS website or follow the hashtag #LetCommunitiesLead on social media. You can also find out more about the HIV/AIDS situation and response in your country or region by visiting the WHO website or the CDC website.
Together, we can end AIDS, with communities leading the way.
Some of the events include:
- A candlelight vigil in India to remember those who died of AIDS and to demand universal access to antiretroviral therapy.
- A march in South Africa to protest against gender-based violence and its link to HIV infection among women and girls.
- A concert in Brazil to celebrate the resilience and creativity of people living with HIV and to raise funds for community-based organizations.
- A workshop in Thailand to train peer educators and advocates on HIV prevention and harm reduction among drug users.
- A webinar in Canada to share best practices and lessons learned from community-led responses to COVID-19 and HIV co-infection.
How to Protect Yourself and Others from HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is still a major public health threat that affects millions of people worldwide. According to the WHO, there were an estimated 37.7 million people living with HIV at the end of 2020, of whom 27.5 million were accessing antiretroviral therapy. However, there were also 1.5 million new HIV infections and 690,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2020.The good news is that HIV/AIDS can be prevented and treated with effective interventions. Here are some of the ways to protect yourself and others from HIV/AIDS:
- Know your HIV status. Get tested regularly and confidentially at a health facility or a community-based testing site. You can also use a self-testing kit if available in your area.
- Use condoms correctly and consistently every time you have sex. Condoms are the best way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
- If you are at high risk of HIV exposure, consider taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill that can reduce your chance of getting HIV by up to 99%. Talk to your health care provider or a community-based organization about PrEP and how to access it.
- If you think you have been exposed to HIV within the past 72 hours, seek post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), a short course of antiretroviral drugs that can prevent HIV infection. PEP should be started as soon as possible and taken for 28 days. Contact your health care provider or a community-based organization for PEP.
- If you are living with HIV, start and stay on antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible. Antiretroviral therapy can suppress the virus in your body, improve your health and quality of life, and prevent onward transmission of HIV to your sexual partners.
- If you are pregnant or breastfeeding and living with HIV, take antiretroviral therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. You can also have a safe and healthy delivery and breastfeed your baby without passing on the virus.
- Support and join community-led organizations that work to end HIV/AIDS. You can donate, volunteer, advocate, or participate in their events and activities. You can also learn from their experiences, share your own, and be part of the solution.
Join the Movement to End AIDS
World AIDS Day is more than a celebration of the achievements of communities; it is a call to action to enable and support communities in their leadership roles. By doing so, we can accelerate the progress towards the end of AIDS by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.To join the movement to end AIDS, you can visit the UNAIDS website or follow the hashtag #LetCommunitiesLead on social media. You can also find out more about the HIV/AIDS situation and response in your country or region by visiting the WHO website or the CDC website.
Together, we can end AIDS, with communities leading the way.
Sources: who.int | unaids.org | cdc.gov | udayavani.com