COVID-19 Could Lead To More HIV Cases, AIDS-Related Casualties, Warns UN

United Nations: The latest report from the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on the World AIDS Day on Tuesday warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to 123,000 to 293,000 new HIV cases and 69,000 to 148,000 additional AIDS-related deaths in the next couple of years.

The report titled “Prevailing against pandemics by putting people at the center”, UNAIDS sent a warning that the global AIDS response was off track even before the pandemic, according to news agency Xinhua.

The quick spread of the COVID-19 has created additional hiccups.

For the world to be back on track to put an end AIDS by 2030, as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), UNAIDS proposed the countries to make far greater investments in global pandemic responses and adopt a new set of bold, ambitious but achievable HIV targets, reported IANS.

“The collective failure to invest sufficiently in comprehensive, rights-based, people-centered HIV responses has come at a terrible price,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima was quoted as saying in the agency report.

“Implementing just the most politically palatable programs will not turn the tide against Covid-19 or end AIDS. To get the global response back on track will require putting people first and tackling the inequalities on which epidemics thrive,” Byanyima added.

UNAIDS has since suggested a new set of targets for 2025 which, if achieved, will make it possible for the UNSDGs to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.