Beyond Borders: Unifying the Fight Against AIDS Amid Global Crises
Written for and posted on the WINGS Philanthropy in Focus Blog
Racism, transphobia, and homophobia. Authoritarianism, closing civic space, and political instability. Climate change and conflict. Attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The politicisation of HIV funding. These threats are raging all at once and are fueled by common antagonists.
Despite decades of progress, nearly 40 million people are living with HIV globally, more than half of whom are women and girls. Young people aged 15-24 make up more than a quarter of new infections due to a lack of access to HIV and sexual and reproductive health services. The situation is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world’s People Living with HIV (PLWH). Key populations—including transgender people, gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers and their sexual partners, and people who use drugs—are disproportionately impacted, accounting for 70% of HIV infections globally and 94% of HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa1. PLWH are also close to 40% more likely to develop severe fatal Covid-19 than those without HIV2.
It doesn’t have to be this way.