Let the community lead

SGGP 12/02/2023 08:06

World AIDS Day (1 December) is a time to reflect on the remarkable progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and to support people living with the disease.

“Let communities lead” is the theme for World AIDS Day 2023

Despite significant progress in recent years, there is a worrying phenomenon that awareness of the disease among young people has become neglected. In Thailand, according to data from the Department of Disease Control, nearly half of the more than 9,000 new HIV infections in Thailand each year are among people aged 15-24. According to Dr. Suchada Jiamsiri, Head of the AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Prevention Division, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, this rate shows that young people are less concerned about the disease and ignore the use of safe sex measures, causing infections in this age group to increase over the years.

According to the Bangkok Post on December 1, there are currently 561,578 people living with HIV in Thailand, as the government has joined a global commitment to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, with the goal of reducing new infections to less than 1,000 cases per year, from the current 9,230 cases per year, and HIV/AIDS-related deaths to less than 4,000 cases per year, from the current 10,970 cases per year. Meanwhile, the state budget for HIV/AIDS management has decreased due to the perception that the disease is no longer as big a problem as before. Foreign funding to support local HIV/AIDS prevention projects has also decreased for the same reason, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even in the wealthy United States, funding for HIV/AIDS programs is being proposed to be cut by $767 million. The Baltimore Sun quoted Dr. Allison Agwu, president of the HIV Medicine Society and professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as saying that the United States is at a dangerous crossroads that could derail decades of progress in the HIV response across the country. If funding continues to be cut, all the progress made in combating HIV in this country will be eroded and reversed.

Achieving the goal of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 requires sustained commitment. The theme of World AIDS Day 2023 is “Let communities lead”. This means that achieving the goal of eliminating HIV/AIDS by 2030 will depend heavily on community support for investing in effective treatment and prevention measures. But communities need more support, including funding from relevant agencies. The message of World AIDS Day this year wants to highlight the important role of communities in planning, providing services and advocating for policies. This goal can only be achieved if policymakers invest fully in community-led responses, and if sectors work together to support and amend policies and regulations that currently hinder the work of community organizations.

In the context of infectious diseases that still have many unexpected developments, the community will be the key infrastructure and strategy to support this goal.

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