On December 1st every year, the world celebrates World AIDS Day. We unite to show support for individuals living with HIV and remembering those who died from AIDS related illness. This year theme is “LET COMMUNITIES LEAD” by focusing on how instrumental the community is in creating awareness. Around the world, 37 million people are living with HIV, the highest number ever, and about 9.4 million people aren’t aware of their status.
Advantages of Knowing your status
1. Prevention and Control. Become aware of your status at it’s early stages so it can be control and you’ll be able to live a long and healthy life with proper treatment and care.
2. Protect the lives of babies. Women should have regular test to create a safe space for their babies.
3. Share cost. Taking the test provides an opportunity to screen for other illnesses like, tuberculosis, hepatitis, high blood pressure and diabetes.
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 marginalised communities, to advance the global HIV response. “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower.”
World AIDS Day remains as relevant today as it’s always been, reminding people and governments that HIV has not gone away. There is still a critical need for increased funding for the AIDS response, to increase awareness of the impact of HIV on people’s lives, to end stigma and discrimination and to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV.
Join us in this fight
source; https://www.unaids.org/en/2023-world-aids-day
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Great! Thanks for sharing.