By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Ahead of the UN’s HIV/AIDS summit in New York this June, the United Nations Women (UNW) is canvassing support from different sectors to cooperate in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The summit is aimed at reaffirming governments’ commitment to ensuring free health care for AIDS victims and to end HIV as a public health threat by 2020. Although the government, over the years, has initiated policies to combat the virus, its spread still continues unabated as the National Aids Secretariat (NAS) in Freetown has confirmed that 55,000 Sierra Leoneans were living with the virus that causes AIDS. Some 4, 700 out of this figure are children, according to the Secretariat.
Leading up to the high level meeting, UNW calls upon civil society organisations, communities and the private sector to be fully involved in the preparation and processes to provide a “holistic approach to the AIDS fight.”
UNW resident coordinator in Sierra Leone, Dr. Mary Okumo, told journalists in a press briefing that the meeting would be presided over by the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft in NewYork.
The “UN AIDS fast track approach,” she said, had “time bound targets” including reducing the number of new AIDS infections being the figure in 2014 from 2 million to fewer than 500, 000 cases.
Similarly, the world also hopes to reduce the number of people dying from AIDS related causes from 1.2 million in 2014 to 500,000 in 2020, a date set aside by government as the target date beside the internationally agreed date of 2030.
“The high level meeting in 2016 represents the single most important milestone to secure political commitment for the action necessary over the next five years to enable ending the epidemic by 2030,” Okumo explained.
The UNW head further noted that the political declaration would reaffirm the global vision of zero-new HIV infections and Zero AIDS related deaths in addition to reflecting the universal principles for global action.
“Diverse HIV epidemics and contexts demand differentiated responses based on strategic information and priorities,” she said.
However, Dr. Okumo expressed concern about the widespread discrimination hunting HIV positives. She said HIV victims are discriminated on the grounds of gender, nationality and age, among others.
“Discrimination is a violation of human rights; it is illegal, dehumanising and it acts as a major barrier to development and access to HIV services,” Okumo said.
In his contribution, the UNAIDS Country Director, Dr Michael Boum sounded concerned about reversing the gains made so far in the fight against HIV in the first 15 years of the millennium if the world refused to increase HIV investment by providing the required funds. He made reference to an estimated US$ 21.7 billion invested in 2015 to the AIDS response in low-and middle-income countries. The Executive Director called on countries to increase, year on year, up to a peak of 40% higher to reach the “fast-track targets.”
“Adopting the fast track focus on location and population, allocation of resources to where they are mostly needed will ensure that people most affected by HIV are reached with life changing HIV prevention and treatment services,” he explained.
The achievement of the fast track targets on time, Dr Boum said, would ensure that estimated total resources needed would begin to fall by 2021.
“We must have a clear message of urgency to fast-track the response and call on all actors to take courageous decisions to rapidly scale up and frontload global and domestic investments and leverage private sector partnership ` opportunities,” he said.
The UNAIDS director disclosed that out of the 55,000 HIV infections, only 33% knew they were infected. “This situation poses a threat to health of others,” he said.
Boum told journalists that there would be an 18-month massive AIDS testing campaign to ensure the health of women and children, and therefore called for more media involvement in the HIV fight to ensure that the right messages were sent out. The call for media involvement, he said, was as a result of his experience from Botswana, South Africa, and Uganda, among others which had recorded successes largely owing to effective media campaign.
“The amount of media campaign provided for the fight against the Ebola virus that resulted into its defeat should also be provided for the AIDS virus,” he appealed.
The NAS communication officer, Abu Bakarr Koroma, said HIV/AIDS was still on the increase, noting that victims were still hesitant to explain their status so that they could access appropriate treatment.
“HIV victims should go for testing,” he urged. Koroma noted that although the Ebola virus negatively impacted on the anti-AIDS campaign, his institution would re-strategize with a particular focus on testing, immediate treatment especially for women and girls within the framework of the NAS national strategic plan.
(C) Politico 09/03/16
