World AIDs Day: A reflection on 25 years

The 1st of December 1988 marked the first World AIDs Day. It has been held on the same day ever since, but a lot has changed in the last 25 years.

In the late 80s, when the campaign started, AIDs was widely misunderstood and a HIV diagnosis was almost synonymous with a death sentence. Although AIDs (and World AIDs Day) still exists, much progress has been made and many leaders are now calling for 'the beginning of the end of AIDS'. This is a global tipping point 'where the number of people newly infected with HIV is surpassed by the number of people newly offered treatment'. If current rates of progress, due mainly to the incredible advance in science and the global effort, the beginning of the end could be reached as early as 2015.

With these advances, it is also time to rid ourselves of the language of 1988. Its is no longer accurate to say 'AIDS in Africa'; although, of course, it is still a problem in parts of the continent, simply saying this phrase lumps together a continent made up of over 50 countries, each with widely diverging progress. As many as 16 countries, including Ghana, Zambia and Malawi have already reached the beginning of the end, which is a huge testament to their health financing and planning.
Good news stories such as these are often absent from the news headlines.

Having said all this, now is not the time to get complacent. Of course the huge progress made should be celebrated, but we should also realise the problem still exists. In fact, the success in fighting AIDs may have caused, in part, the movement to lose its political momentum as AIDs is no longer seen as an emergency; however even in 2013 it is estimated that funding to treat AIDs is still $3.5 billion short and donor funding has now stalled.

Insufficient money is also not the only problem. Many people are still left behind including LGBT groups, sex workers and drug users. More must be done to reach these vulnerable groups, who are often stigmatised.

So to reflect on the last 25 years, we should celebrate all the progress that has been made, but use this progress as  motivation to build on it further and reach more people in order to make the 'beginning of the end of AIDS' a reality.

http://www.one.org/us/moment/world-aids-day/