: INTERVIEW: End ‘punitive and discriminatory laws’ to beat AIDS #IndiaNEWS #International Punitive and discriminatory laws that stigmatize marginalized communities are hindering the fight against

INTERVIEW: End ‘punitive and discriminatory laws’ to beat AIDS #IndiaNEWS #International
Punitive and discriminatory laws that stigmatize marginalized communities are hindering the fight against HIV/AIDS, says a senior UN health expert, interviewed by UN News ahead of the 2022 International AIDS conference.

Mandeep Dhaliwal, the director of HIV and health at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is concerned that the proliferation of such laws is hampering the UN’s response to the virus, which is also being hit by a host of interconnected global crises.
Mandeep Dhaliwal: It is a pivotal time and opportunity to galvanize people around getting the AIDS response back on track. For the UNDP, the HIV/AIDS response is all about reducing inequalities, improving governance, and building resilient and sustainable systems, and this is really where we need to step up action if were going to regain lost ground.

UNDP

UN News What are the links between HIV/AIDS and development?
Mandeep Dhaliwal: HIV and other health issues are drivers and indicators of human development. For example, the war in Ukraine is having a dramatic effect on the cost of living, and 71 million people in the developing world have fallen into poverty in just three months.
That has consequences on everything from the financing of HIV/AIDS programs, to access to services, prevention, and treatment.
We’re seeing widening inequalities within and between countries, and we know that, in these kinds of crises, the impact is disproportionately borne by the most vulnerable and marginalized in our communities.
We’re seeing the cascading effects of multiple overlapping crises: the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the financial crisis, the food and energy crisis, and the climate crisis.
All of these are contributing to backsliding on HIV, and a decline in the resources available to countries. There is an incredible strain on already fragile, weak, and often fragmented health systems, and COVID has just deepened that.
There are 100 million displaced people. Its a global record, and theyre at increased risk of acquiring HIV. They face barriers to accessing HIV and health services and are often cut off from support networks.
Economic growth prospects are down. The World Bank projects that 52 countries will face a significant drop in their spending capacity through 2026.
These 52 countries are important because theyre home to 43 per cent of the people living with HIV worldwide. But now, the HIV response, especially in Africa, is in jeopardy.
UN News: Do you think we can eradicate AIDS?
Mandeep Dhaliwal: I think we can get to the end of AIDS as a public health threat, but thats going to require an urgent scale up of efforts in the next five years, to really address some of the persistent challenges in the AIDS response, particularly around young and adolescent women in sub-Saharan Africa, and marginalized populations globally.