The proverb from which this column’s headline is taken, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. According to several sources, Ben Franklin coined the phrase in an address to Philadelphia’s Union Fire Company, which he had organised in 1736. The axiom, therefore, was originally fire-fighting advice, but over the centuries it has been widely used to address myriad situations, particularly in the health sector.
On Sunday, December 1, the global community will observe World AIDS Day. This year’s commemoration marks the 31st annual observance of a day set aside for people worldwide to unite in the fight against the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from AIDS-related illnesses.
Although there have been tremendous strides made by the global medical and scientific community from 1984 – when the retrovirus was first identified as the cause of the severe immune deficiency that was leading to deaths – to today, a cure remains elusive.
And while with the care and treatment currently available, some people who contract HIV seldom die of AIDS, prevention, long preached as the best way to avoid it, is still key.
For all the successes made in the fight against HIV, it continues to be a major global public health issue. There is no known place in the world where there are no HIV-infected people. According statistics released recently by the World Health Organisation (WHO), up to the end of last year, there were an estimated 37,900,000 people living with HIV around the world. The figure is estimated not only because data is not available from every country and territory, but because there are many people who have failed to employ prevention but are still unaware of their status as they have not been tested. However, from the figures it has received, the WHO has revealed that for last year alone, 1,700,000 people were newly infected with HIV and 770,000 people died of HIV or AIDS-related causes. As a result of this, the WHO projects that there will be 500,000 new cases and deaths this year and next year.
While the number is still high, the optimistically downward projection is because of the resolute international fight that has been ongoing for years. Apart from the WHO, organisations like the International AIDS Society, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS have made tremendous contributions towards ending this disease that has been likened to a scourge.
But a major ongoing contribution is that made by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which was set up in 2002 to raise, manage and invest the world’s money to respond to what have been called three of the deadliest infectious diseases the world has ever known. Over the years, the Global Fund was able to mobilise and invest over US$4 billion a year. According to information on its website, these investments, made in over 100 countries have saved 32 million lives and provided prevention, treatment and care services to hundreds of millions of people.
For instance, in its partnership with the Government of Guyana, the Global Fund has disbursed over the years US$48,247,892 with the bulk of that, US$37,242,855, going to HIV programmes through the country’s health ministry. This grant funding goes towards, among other things, counselling and testing, care and support services, antiretroviral therapy and importantly prevention.
Globally, governments have widely utilised the services of community groups in pushing prevention and providing care and support and counselling. The stigmatisation of those infected with HIV and those at risk of becoming infected has made reaching them nearly impossible except when it is done through their peers. Thus, community groups made up of health workers, peer educators, people living with or affected by HIV, gay men, sex workers, women, youth, counsellors, civil society organizations and grass-roots activists among others, some of which were able to secure Global Fund grants through their health ministries, have contributed immensely to the HIV fight.
The WHO, in recognition of the superpower of community groups, has designated “Communities Make the Difference” as this year’s theme. Community groups advocate, provide leadership, mobilise, organise and educate. But perhaps their greatest role is in spreading the message of prevention. In lieu of a cure, it is the surest way to securing a world without AIDS.
