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Stigma, Discrimination Seen Driving HIV/AIDS, COVID-19

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. Program on HIV and AIDS warns that stigma and
   discrimination against marginalized populations are driving both the
   AIDS crisis and COVID-19 and must be tackled and eliminated to end what
   officials call the dual, colliding pandemics.

   In a report released in advance of World AIDS Day on December 1, the
   U.N. agency called on governments to put the most vulnerable at the
   center of their pandemic responses.

   HIV/AIDS emerged nearly 40 years ago. While progress in the treatment
   of the disease has been made, AIDS remains a public health menace. Last
   year, UNAIDS reported 1.7 million people were infected with HIV and
   690,000 died.

   Health officials said the global response to ending AIDS as a public
   health threat by 2030 was off track even before the COVID-19 pandemic
   hit. The rapid spread of coronavirus, they said, is creating additional
   setbacks.

   Part of UNAIDS' new strategy for tackling AIDS is to direct money to
   the people most at risk. Yet, Sigrid Kaag, minister for foreign trade
   and development cooperation in the Netherlands, said that is not
   happening.

   She noted a study commissioned by the Netherlands found only 2 percent
   of AIDS funding worldwide targets those who are most at risk.

   "Sixty-two percent of new HIV infections are among gay men, sex
   workers, drug users and transgender people," Kaag said. "How can we end
   the HIV pandemic, or any pandemic for that matter, if we ignore those
   most at risk? Stigma and criminalization impede access to medical
   services, and this is exactly how pandemics continue to spread."

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