“The most optimistic among us can already see the light at the end of the tunnel, but make no mistake, we must not let up on our efforts”insists Florence Thune, Managing Director of Sidaction, which is launching its 20e annual campaign this Friday, March 24, called “We’ve never been closer to enjoying an AIDS-free future“. For three days, awareness-raising and collection actions will take place across France, in order to collect donations against HIV and to inform as many people as possible about this disease which continues its abuses throughout the world.
In 2021, 38.4 million people were living with HIV worldwideincluding 174,000 in France, and 1.5 million new infections have been counted, far from the target set by UNAIDS of less than 500,000 infections for 2020. In France alone, 5,013 people discovered their HIV status in 2021: among them 15% are under 25 years old and 23% are over 50 years old. And according to Sidaction, 24,000 people are even unaware of their HIV status. “This means that we have not yet eradicated the disease, yet we must get there since we know that with the treatments, people do not develop the disease”explained virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize winner for her work in the fight against AIDS.
This means that work remains to be done, both in terms of access to existing treatments for all and prevention around the disease. The association also calls for accelerating the screening, a major challenge in the fight against HIV, which nevertheless experienced a sharp decline during the Covid-19 crisis. “In a context of steady increase for several years in HIV testing activity, the decrease observed between 2019 and 2020 (-13%) was not fully caught up in 2021 (+8%), hence a deficit of the use of screening”regrets Sidaction.
“We must intensify the fight for access to treatment everywhere in the world, for scientific research, for sexual health education for young and old alike, for the respect and dignity of people living with HIV. We have never been so close to enjoying a world without AIDS and it is by fighting together that we will achieve this goal”adds Florence Thune.
What should we (still) fight against in 2023?
In 2021, 29% of people who discovered their HIV status were at an advanced stage of the disease, i.e. too late to put in place early treatment. And despite the progress of science, the social weight or the aging of the contaminations continue to plague the situation: today, 30% of those affected are over 55 years old.
THE #Sidaction2023 is launched! Three days of collection and information on the fight against the AIDS virus. While science has made great strides, one person dies every minute from AIDS around the world. The mobilization must continue!https://t.co/Mz1KUB1R7fpic.twitter.com/VI75rve2ti
— Sidaction (@Sidaction) March 24, 2023
Forty years later, the disease is too often stigmatized and patients too often have to live in silence. To fight against misconceptions, prevention must absolutely be strengthened according to the association. Because despite the legal obligation to organize at least three sex education sessions a year in schools, they too often do not take place, leaving the younger generations with too little information. Sidaction, with two other associations, also lodged a complaint at the beginning of March against the State because of the non-application of this law.
Sidaction also needs donations to help associations currently in great difficulty to advance research and develop potential future treatments or vaccines. To donate, it’s very simple: go to sidaaction.org or call 110.
