UN: World must share responsibility to overcome COVID-19, end AIDS
UN Secretary-Standard Antonio Guterres has said health must be a top investment priority to attain universal health coverage and described health a good human right.
"On this World AIDS Evening let us recognise that, to overcome COVID-19 and end AIDS, the globe must stand found in solidarity and share responsibility," he said found in a note marking the World Helps Day that falls on December 1.
With the world's attention focused on the COVID-19 crisis, World AIDS Day is a reminder of the need to maintain give attention to another global pandemic that's still with us nearly 40 years after it emerged, the UN chief said.
Despite significant successes, the AIDS emergency isn't over.
HIV still infects 1.7 million persons each year and kills some 690,000.
And inequalities mean that those who are minimal able to operate for their rights remain the most affected.
"COVID-19 is a wake-up call to the world. Inequalities in overall health affect most of us. No one is safe unless we all are secure," Guterres said.
The HIV response has much to teach the fight against COVID-19.
"We know that to end AIDS and defeat COVID-19 we should eradicate stigma and discrimination, place people at the center and surface our responses in individual rights and gender-responsive techniques," explained the UN chief.
He said wealth should not determine whether people get medical care they need.
"We need a COVID-19 vaccine and HIV treatments and health care that are affordable and available to everyone, everywhere," he said, reports UNB.
