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Add to Preferred SourcesAbout 62 000 people are living with HIV in Venezuela who started treatment but lack consistent access to antiretroviral medicines, according to the Venezuelan Network of Positive People.
The fallout has been severe. Hospitalization rates among people living with HIV have soared and there are an estimated 20 to 30 AIDS-related deaths every day. By September 2018, an estimated 7700 Venezuelans living with HIV had joined the migrants streaming into neighboring countries.
“The current humanitarian crisis is leading to a drastic and alarming regression of the national AIDS response that is comparable to, and even worse than, what was experienced at the beginning of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s,” said HIV activist Alberto Nieves of Citizens Action against AIDS (ACCSI).
Over the past two years, UNAIDS has coordinated with the Venezuelan Ministry of Health, civil society, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and other United Nations entities and development partners to improve treatment access for adults and children living with HIV in the country, as well as people on the move. UNAIDS joined with civil society and PAHO to support the advocacy that resulted in a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria US$ 5 million allocation to the HIV component of a plan to coordinate support to combat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the country.
UNAIDS, in partnership with Aid for AIDS International, received more than 60 tonnes of antiretroviral medicines, which were distributed to people through state-run dispensing centres. UNAIDS has also coordinated the donation and distribution of testing kits and breast-milk substitutes.
As a member of the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, UNAIDS also advocates for the rights and treatment access needs of migrants living with HIV. Priorities include the establishment of a civil society observatory to monitor access to health services and discrimination, distribution of communication materials around prevention, treatment and care and advocacy to address discrimination and xenophobia.
Amid all this, UNAIDS insists on the need to continue strengthening the country’s HIV response.
“We need ongoing work with diverse national and international actors for the welfare of all Venezuelans, and to guarantee the health and quality of life of all people living with HIV in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” said the UNAIDS Country Director, Regina Lopez de Khalek. “We are working so that the country is not left behind in the global effort to end AIDS.”
Original source: UNAIDS
Published on 14 February 2019