For Your Health: World AIDS Day offers equitable challenge to global epidemic – Fairfield Daily Republic
By Robertson Somuah, Special to the Daily Republic
Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day. It is an opportunity for people to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS, show their support for people living with HIV and AIDS and commemorate those we have been lost in this global epidemic.
This year’s theme, which focuses on how equity and solidarity can stem the tide of the global spread of HIV, is “Ending the HIV Epidemic: Equitable Access, Everyone’s Voice.”
The global community’s advancements in preventing and treating HIV are things to be proud of. The year’s theme focuses on equitable interventions that need expanded, considering the equitable challenges faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is the need to continue focusing on creating equitable initiatives that takes into consideration that HIV continues to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
An estimated 1.8 million adults have become infected with HIV every year for the past five years, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. HIV prevention efforts must be evaluated and improved and made more equitable to help identify HIV-positive individuals early, link them to medical care and supportive services, and decrease the spread of HIV in communities that have been historically and disproportionately impacted.
One of the biggest successes HIV programs worldwide have had is that a pill, when taken, can prevent a person from getting HIV. This medication is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP for short. Pre-exposure prophylaxis is a way for people who do not have HIV but are at very high risk of getting HIV to prevent HIV infection. PrEP (brand name Truvada) contains two medicines, tenofovir and emtricitabine, used with other medicines to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use, these medicines can keep the virus from establishing a permanent infection.
When taken daily, PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV. Studies have shown that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% when taken daily. PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by at least 74% when taken daily among people who inject drugs. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently. As PrEP only protects against HIV, condoms are essential for the protection against other STDs. Proper use of condoms is also an important prevention strategy if PrEP is not taken consistently.
Communities contribute to the HIV/AIDS response in many ways. Their leadership and advocacy ensure that the answer remains relevant and grounded, keeping people at the center and leaving no one behind. Communities include peer educators, networks of people living with or affected by HIV, such as people of color, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and sex workers, women and young people, counselors, community health workers, door-to-door service providers, civil society organizations and grass-roots activists.
World AIDS Day offers an important platform to highlight the role of communities at a time when 2021’s global pandemic limits access to HIV testing in many locations throughout the world.
Solano Pride Center, Central Pharmacy, Community Medical Centers, Club Stride and Solano AIDS Coalition have stepped up to help some of the most vulnerable and underrepresented in our community. Solidarity and equitable initiatives are how we can continue to fight HIV together.
Robertson Somuah is a senior health education specialist from the Communicable Disease Bureau at Solano Public Health.
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