November 29, 2022

The challenges Latin America faces to ending HIV/AIDS

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	Brazil
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Since the first cases of HIV/AIDS were observed in the 1980's, science has significantly advanced its methods of prevention and treatment. Health technologies, such as safe pills both for treatments and pre-exposition prevention (PrEP), as well as rapid testing and protection tools for sexual relations, have made it possible to reduce the incidence rate of the virus among populations of most places in the world, including in Latin America. 

From 2010 to 2021, data released by AIDSInfo shows that the number of people living with HIV in comparison with the total population has dropped in 19 out of 24 of Latin American and Caribbean countries. This remarkable reduction holds true despite the faltering in resources against HIV/AIDS caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2022 World AIDS Day campaign, celebrated on 1 December, focuses on promoting equality in order to combat a disease that still affects 3.8 million people in the Americas - 65 percent of whom are in Latin America and the Caribbean. The campaign reminds the world that it still has a long way to go before reaching its goal of eradicating the disease by 2030.  

The United Nations agency for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) calls attention to the fact that the Global North and Global South are not on the same page when it comes to the efforts to end the disease. One report released by the Pan-American Health Organisation about the response to the HIV epidemic between 2010 and 2021 showed that, while the number of new infections dropped by 32.2 percent globally and by 28 percent in the Caribbean, Latin America registered an increase of 4.7 percent in new infections. Deaths related to the disease, on the other hand, significantly dropped in all regions - mostly due to the increased access to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Brazil, which once achieved global recognition for its health program for people living with HIV, has now seen the number of new annual infections rise slightly - a tendency also highlighted by the report In Danger - while its widespread campaigns for HIV-consciousness have been discontinued. For Agência AIDS, a local outlet focused on this epidemic, the former director of the National Program for HIV/AIDS, Alexandre Grangeiro, said that Brazil’s response to HIV is no longer adequate to current times. "It is necessary to rejuvenate the response, since the new generations are accumulating cases,” he affirmed.

In addition, stigma is also a barrier to key populations, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, and transgender people, preventing them from seeking testing and following the correct treatment, which could lower the viral load and prevent further infections.

UNAIDS notes that another important issue to be addressed when it comes to tackling HIV/AIDS is gender violence. In 2021, one adolescent or young woman acquired HIV every two minutes in the world, on average, which makes sexual and reproductive education an urgent necessity to protect them. "To achieve gender equality and end AIDS, eliminating gender-based violence must finally become a global, national and local priority!" exclaims a tweet shared by the Brazilian UNAIDS office.

Photo by Hal Gatewood

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