Majority unaware of their HIV status
What you need to know:
- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said one person out of four living with HIV is unaware that they are living with the virus, calling upon the world to intensify testing of the deadly but treatable disease.
Dar es Salaam. One out of four people living with HIV do not know that they have the virus, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. In a statement released on Wednesday, ahead the World Aids Day 2018, Mr Guterres says the situation impedes them from making informed decisions on prevention, treatment and other supporting services. This year’s theme aims at campaigning for people to know their HIV status and their viral load.
“There is still time to scale-up testing for HIV; to enable more people to access treatment, to increase resources needed to prevent new infections and to end the stigma.
At this critical juncture, we need to take the right turn now,” reads part of the statement. According to him, huge progress has been made in diagnosis, treatment and prevention efforts have helped millions of people across the world. He said the pace of progress does not match with global ambition because the new HIV infections are not falling rapidly enough.
He some regions are lagging behind, and financial resources are insufficient, stigma and discrimination are still holding people back, especially key populations like sex workers, transgenders and drugs users.
