Lest we forget

TO APPRECIATE the need for caution at this time in relation to the covid19 pandemic we need only look to the important and beneficial role played by the consistent implementation of strong public health measures in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

There are enormous differences between the current pandemic and the HIV/Aids crisis of the 1980s. Both are very different diseases. Yet, the deaths and isolation covid19 has wrought echoes some of what perople who have lived through HIV/Aids have experienced. And while one disease is largely sexually transmitted, personal behaviour and habits are key in the rate of transmission. The similarities don’t end there.

Just as stigma has played a role in the fight against HIV/Aids, people with covid19 now face prejudice.“We must remember that the virus – not people with covid19 or affected by covid19 – is the enemy,” warned US researcher Dr Valerie Earnshaw this month. Regional HIV/Aids advocacy groups have also noted the similar level of fear, which has probably been heightened by the fact that a lot is uncertain, as it was at the start of the global HIV/Aids epidemic.

While covid19 and HIV/Aids can affect anyone, experience across the globe has shown that if you cannot afford access to quality healthcare, or if you come from a marginal background, your chances of succumbing are heightened. That’s another grim reality.

Together, HIV/Aids and covid19 remind us of the importance of the long view when it comes to dealing with public health emergencies. The gains made in relation to covid19 can easily evaporate overnight. Progress in relation to HIV/Aids can also be undone if patients find their treatment regimes disrupted and if the public turns its back on years of messaging and public education when it comes to minimising risk.

Indeed, prior to all of this, the unfailing efforts of the State, NGOs, international agencies and global political bodies have been essential in helping to bring the world to a moment when it could witness the milestone of a patient being cured, as occurred in March. And powerful drugs are now available. That does not mean we must let up the fight against HIV. The bone marrow transplants that have resulted in that patient being cured are not likely to become a realistic treatment option.

We need, therefore, to maintain treatment and prevention measures even amid these conditions. And we need to also keep in mind how people who endured the trauma of HIV/Aids might become emotionally triggered by the current events.

At a time when the State is widening the covid19 testing net, it’s even more crucial for us to remove covid19 stigma. People who have symptoms need to be able to come forward without fear of recrimination. As we learned tragically with HIV/Aids, that stigma can cost lives.