WHO-Xinhua: Overlapping crises accelerate health inequalities

Photo showing the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, March 30, 2021.

MONTREAL, Canada, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Overlapping crises such as COVID-19, inflation and cuts in foreign aid by rich countries are accelerating health inequalities and affecting health, said the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Monday. services.

In a video keynote address on health equality for all at the 24th International AIDS Conference, known as AIDS 2022, Tedros said rising inequality could undo a decade of progress in the fight against HIV.

The gap between the rich and the poor in almost all countries is widening, and the global cost of living crisis is pushing more and more people into poverty, Tedros said.

“Access to life-saving prevention tools, tests and treatments, whether for HIV, COVID-19 or now monkeypox, often depends on chance: where you were born, what color your skin is and how much you produce,” Tedros said.

He appealed to donor countries to preserve funding for global health.

Leaders of the global HIV community have warned that the world is falling behind in the fight against HIV. According to a report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), there were about 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2021, more than 1 million more than the global targets.

The UNAIDS report also showed that the number of people on treatment for HIV rose at a slower rate in 2021 than in the past decade.

More than 9,500 live people and nearly 2,000 virtual people have signed up for the All-Hybrid AIDS 2022 Conference, which will take place from July 29 to August 2 in Montreal, Canada, with the theme “Re-engage and Follow the Science.”

(according to Xinhua News Agency)