There is a risk that the victories won in the fight against AIDS will be sacrificed during the battle against the Covid-19
, said UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima. The number of deaths caused by HIV could double in sub-Saharan Africa if patients’ access to treatment was disrupted by the pandemic of new coronavirus, the UN warned on Monday, May 11, 2020.
A six-month disruption in access to antiretrovirals could cause more than 500,000 additional deaths in the region in a year between 2020 and 2021, adding to the 470,000 deaths recorded in 2018, according to the World Health Organization ( WHO) and UNAIDS. Unheard of since 2008, when 950,000 people had died of AIDS in the region.
Infant infections could jump
In 2018, the year of the latest available statistics, 25.7 million people were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, 16.4 million of whom were receiving antiretroviral therapy.
A breakdown in prevention campaigns, access to care and treatment could also erase the progress made in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, while the number of infected children has dropped by 43 % between 2010 and 2018, going from 250,000 to 140,000 children.
Infant infections could jump 37% in Mozambique, 78% in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and 104% in Uganda.
Do not falter in prevention efforts
In a statement released the previous week, UNAIDS had called on governments to not weaken in their HIV prevention efforts and ensure that people continue to have access to the services necessary to avoid infection, discrimination and violence, but also to be able to enjoy their sexual and reproductive health as well as related rights
.
Large-scale loss of income and jobs could lead to increased paid sex, sex work and sexual exploitation. This will put people at increased risk of contracting HIV unless they have the means to protect themselves
, worried the agency.
Since the AIDS virus first appeared more than 35 years ago, 78 million people have been infected and 35 million have died, according to UNAIDS.
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