LONDON (Reuters)-
The AIDS epidemic is increasingly concentrated among marginalized groups such as sex workers, drug users and gay men. if attitudes do not change, it may challenge global efforts to fight AIDS. N. expert said.
US President Michelle kazatkinN.
The special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe said that he hoped to be able to celebrate without reservation the progress made globally over the past decade, but that stubborn infection rates and the alarming growth of outbreaksto-
It is difficult to reach the population.
The risk, he said, is that as the world reverses the trend of the global AIDS epidemic, the virus will re-emerge as a disease that only plagues certain groups, and the political will to overcome it may disappear.
"If we do not address the root causes of the problem, if we do not address stigma, discrimination and inappropriate legislation, if we do not look at these people from a public health perspective, instead of looking at crime as we do now, he said in an interview: "Then this trend will only continue. ".
"Then, the epidemic of AIDS will increasingly become the sum of these concentrated epidemics. ” Some 35.
More than 3 million people around the world have been infected with human immune deficiency virus (HIV)
This has led to AIDS, but the increase in the number of patients reflects the great progress made in recent years in developing complex HIV tests and combinations of AIDS drugs and providing them to many who need them to survive
The number of AIDS deaths dropped to one each year.
In 2012, 6 million people, from the peak of 2.
3 million in 2005, the rate of new HIV infections was also steadily declining: In 2013 it was third lower than in 2011.
The potential end of this development of AIDS, the potential world without HIV or the possibility of AIDS has brought great hope --
In our lifetime, the generation of freedom.
Kazatchkine, who will speak at the Urban Health conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday, sees this progress and hope as "extraordinary ".
"I am really worried about the future of the AIDS epidemic, especially when we may be a little too optimistic, because we have made great progress from a technical and scientific perspective," he said.
"While we celebrate extraordinary progress, we should also be aware that we will not stop HIV and AIDS simply by having more complex drugs, focusing only on the universal epidemic, not enough to focus on the complexity of the concentrated epidemic.
"There is a fairly clear definition for the concerned groups: injecting drug users who can spread HIV to each other by sharing needles and syringes, prostitutes and sex workers who are often convicted, almost no access to medical services, gay and bisexual men
The population at the beginning of the HIV epidemic.
To illustrate that the situation of drug users has not changed in the fight against HIV --
Especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Kazatchkine tells about two women.
The first was André, a drug addict he met in Paris in 1986, who had no hope for effective HIV treatment because it had not yet been developed and eventually he died alone.
The second is Larissa, from Yekaterinburg, Russia. a drug addict was arrested and locked up many times. he was deprived of medicine for many years and was sentenced to five labor camps.
"These stories are very similar," he said . "
"But lar is not in 1986, but this year.
It's been about 25 years between me and the two women, but their plight is equally frustrating, unfortunately.
Kazatchkine says the situation is slightly better in homosexuality.
Poor and middle class
Income country, male who has sex with men (MSM)
Female sex workers are 19 and 13 times more likely to be infected with HIV than others.
Even in wealthy regions like Western Europe and North America, HIV infections among gay people
Or male homosexuality referred to by Kazatchkine-
Stubbornly refuse to change.
"There is no indication of a decrease in this situation among men who have sex with men," he said . ".
"For 10 years it has been either a stable number of new infections per year or an increasing trend.
At least in Western Europe, this is basically free and accessible to treatment and services.
For example, in other parts of China, gay men alone account for more than 33% of new HIV infections. it is predicted that by 2020, gay men may account for half or more of the new infections in Asia.
Kazatchkine acknowledged that in the face of these smaller but ruthless HIV epidemics, he is now equally frustrated and worried that more than a decade ago, when the massive HIV and AIDS outbreak in Africa, he looked unstoppable, unable to start responding.
"We are a little confused now.
We don't know exactly what we should do.
We are here, we have all the technology, we have extraordinary scientific advances, and we cannot translate it into playing a role in these people.
However, the HIV virus may never be defeated without any change.
Kazatchkine called for a "change of collective mindset" to place equity and human rights at the center of the fight against HIV for these groups: "If we do not respond correctly, he said:" We will not be able to end AIDS. ". (
Kate Keland reports
Editor Ralph Bolton)