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A woman has pinned a red ribbon as a sign of solidarity with people living with HIV
Photo: Oliver Berg / picture alliance / dpa
The corona pandemic has overshadowed many things in recent years - including the fight against HIV and AIDS.
In order to counteract this development, the World AIDS Conference, the world's largest scientific meeting on the subject, starts this Friday in Montreal, Canada.
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As part of the corona pandemic, there have been dramatic reductions in HIV testing and counseling facilities internationally,
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says Jürgen Rockstroh, professor at the University Hospital in Bonn, who is taking part in the World AIDS Conference.
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Necessary laboratory controls have been stretched.
Bottlenecks in the supply of medicines have been widely reported.
In addition, many researchers, but also public health colleagues, have had to focus on Covid, so that many resources have been lost for HIV.
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The numbers reflect that: The fight against HIV and AIDS has come to a standstill worldwide, according to a report published before the start of the conference by the United Nations Program to Fight AIDS (UNAIDS).
In some regions where the number of new infections had previously fallen, they are now rising again.
Millions of lives are threatened.
Around 1.5 million people worldwide were newly infected with the HI virus last year.
This means that the number of new infections has still fallen compared to the previous year, but only by 3.6 percent - less than at any time since 2016.
In Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, among others, the number of new infections has increased.
Progress has also stalled in East and South Africa.
There has been a decline in infections, for example, in West and Central Africa and in the Caribbean.
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The new data confirm our worst fears ,
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says Tom Hart, director of the development organization ONE,
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the progress of two decades has been stopped abruptly in just two years.
And as with all viruses, if we don't make progress, we lose the battle.
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In addition to the corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the increased occurrence of monkeypox and the difficult global economic situation were also causes of concern in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Therefore, the conference is now very important, says the scientist Rockstroh.
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There is a great need to exchange ideas and discuss strategies for HIV elimination in times of pandemics and war.
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Because all the tools needed to end HIV are actually available - including antiretroviral therapies and efficient preventive measures in the form of tablets or injections.
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