MALAYSIA’s rising HIV epidemic among key population groups particularly vulnerable to the virus is “alarming”, according to a new global report providing updates on AIDS.
In its In Danger: Global AIDS Update 2022 report, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said the “colliding” AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, complemented by economic and humanitarian crises, has placed the global HIV response under increasing threat.
While the response to the AIDS pandemic in some parts of the world has shown “remarkable resilience” in adverse times, UNAIDS said global progress against HIV is slowing instead of accelerating.
“The latest data collected by UNAIDS show that while new HIV infections fell globally last year, the drop was only 3.6% compared to 2020 – the smallest annual reduction since 2016.
“As a result, many regions, countries and communities are left to address rising HIV infections alongside other ongoing crises,” reads the executive summary of the report, published late last month.
According to the report, every two minutes in 2021, an adolescent girl or young woman was newly infected with HIV.
The AIDS pandemic also took a life every minute in 2021 (a total of 650,000 AIDS-related deaths), despite effective HIV treatment and tools to prevent, detect and treat opportunistic infections.
Besides that, the number of people on HIV treatment grew more slowly in 2021 than it has in over a decade: while three-quarters of all people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral treatment, approximately 10 million people do not.
Only half of the children living with HIV have access to life-saving medicine, and the inequality in HIV treatment coverage between children and adults is increasing rather than narrowing.
The situation in Malaysia
In Asia and the Pacific, the world’s most populous region, UNAIDS data now show that new HIV infections are rising where they had been falling over the past 10 years.
This includes key locations in Malaysia and the Philippines involving gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners.
These five main key population groups frequently lack adequate access to health services, and as such, are particularly vulnerable to HIV, UNAIDS said.
Malaysia and the Philippines were the only two ASEAN countries listed.
Malaysia recorded the second highest proportion of new HIV infections among key populations from 2017 to 2021 (78%) in a sample of 11 Asian countries. The Philippines was in first place at 93%.
During that same period, Malaysia also recorded the second lowest proportion of HIV prevention spending out of total HIV expenditure (10%). Malaysia’s proportion of key populations HIV prevention spending comprised 8% of its total HIV expenditure.
The report also included a scorecard on laws and policies that criminalise transgender people, sex work and same-sex sexual acts in private. Malaysia scored negative in all these areas as it has 15 such laws and policies in place.
Malaysia also scored negative for having laws or policies restricting the entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV; requiring parental consent for adolescents to access HIV testing; and mandatory HIV testing for marriage, work or residence permits, or for certain groups.
“Millions of deaths and infections expected”
UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said millions of AIDS-related deaths and new HIV infections are expected if there continues to be insufficient investment and action.
“The data revealed in this report will disturb and shock – but the report is not a counsel of despair. It is a call to action. Failure would be fatal, but it is not inevitable.
“We can end AIDS by 2030,” she added. “But the curve will not bend itself. We have to pull it down.”
HIV, or the human immunodeficiency virus, can, over time, cause AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
AIDS sees the progressive failure of the immune system, which, in turn, allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Most people who get HIV get it through anal or vaginal sex, or by sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment. – Aug 8, 2022
