The HIV epidemic is far from over
The world’s knowledge is advancing at an ever-increasing rate, especially in the area of medicine. Diseases thought to be incurable, or an immediate death sentence, are now very manageable. One of these diseases is HIV.
Instead of panicking when somebody admits having an HIV-positive diagnosis, the public seems almost apathetic to the news.
Recently, Johns Hopkins hospital performed the first organ transplant between two HIV-positive donors. With a revolutionary achievement such as this, it’s easy to think science and medicine have the disease under control.
Contrarily, now is the time to reemphasize the importance of continued awareness and efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.
Although college-age students won’t remember, when first discovered in 1981, HIV and AIDS appropriately earned the label “epidemic.”
For years, we refused to acknowledge the very existence of AIDS, let alone believe its transmission went beyond the LGBTQ+ community or believed there was any hope for a prognosis beyond death.
Once the government decided to take a stand, in 1996, a highly effective antiretroviral therapy became widely available. Since then, statistics have shown a shrinking number of people who face the symptoms of AIDS.
According to UNAIDS, an agency that advocates for worldwide HIV awareness to end the epidemic by 2030, the global AIDS epidemic has slowed by 20 percent over the past decade.
We should appreciate and applaud how far we as a society have come in acknowledging HIV’s existence and working to fight it.
Even with this progress, however, the problem isn’t disappearing anytime soon.
By the public believing “the work is done, we beat AIDS,” we may be creating a new problem: restarting an epidemic.
AIDS researchers fear the rise of “prevention fatigue”: many people growing weary of precautions preventing the spread of HIV.
The transmission of AIDS in developing countries, specifically Africa, continues to receive attention and support. With less media attention focused on HIV in the developed world, however, we forget this virus is still relevant.
If we fail to acknowledge the potential severity of HIV, or even become negligent in educating others on symptoms, treatment and prevention, the improvements we’ve made will remain stagnant or even suffer.
In America, one million people live with HIV, and around 200,000 remain unaware of their infection. Even more lack stable care.
More than 50,000 Americans contract HIV each year, meaning the number of HIV-positive people continues to increase.
These numbers are concentrated in cities, mostly affecting young people of color, but this doesn’t leave every other demographic in the clear of HIV threats.
In the UK, for example, HIV infection rates in people over 50 have more than doubled in seven years.
Some organizations, such as the United Kingdom’s NAM, continue to work toward goals of comprehensive diagnosis and treatment worldwide. This involves expanding prevention options, including availability to contraceptives and HIV education.
They’re also finding more effective methods of management, hopefully leading to a vaccine more efficient than the multitude of expensive drugs currently available.
The world has lost too many people to this illness (yes, I immediately think of Freddie Mercury) to start forgetting the battle against it.
Rather than a definite timeline of achievements, this battle is one that’s fluid, full both of victories and setbacks.
While not to the degree of Reagan-era ignorance, persistence is the key to see the day HIV and AIDS no longer threaten the world, across the globe or at home.
