World Aids Day 2021 message from HIV/Aids Support Organisation |01 December 2021
‘Let us engage ourselves in actions to end inequalities and end Aids’
“World Aids Day, December 1, is this year being commemorated under the theme ‘End Inequalities. End Aids. End Pandemic’.
“On this day, the world remembers the millions of lives, including 215 Seychellois, lost to Aids over the past 40 years and the many more inflicted by despair, stigma and exclusion resulting from their HIV status.
“To arrest this calamity, UNAids calls for highlighting the urgent need to end the inequalities that drive Aids and other pandemics around the world. Without bold action against inequalities, the world risks missing the target of ending Aids by 2030 and run into a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic coupled with a spiralling socio-economic crisis.
“The first case of HIV in Seychelles was detected in 1987. Since then, much has been done to curb the pandemic but with limited success. Nearly 1% of our population has been infected with the virus and endured the adverse effects of HIV and Aids. On this World Aids Day, the HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso) is appealing to all Seychellois to commit ourselves to overcome the challenges and barriers we still face. Seychelles, together with the rest of the international community, has committed itself to ending Aids by 2030. But business as usual will not get us there. Our only option is bold actions against inequalities.
“Tackling inequalities is a long-standing global promise, the urgency of which has only been heightened. As well as being central to ending Aids, tackling inequalities will advance the human rights of key populations and people who are living with HIV. But ending inequalities requires transformative change. Political, economic and social policies need to protect the rights of everyone and pay particular attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalised communities like people living with HIV Aids.
“We know how to beat Aids, we know what the inequalities obstructing progress are and we know how to tackle them. The policies to address inequalities can be implemented, but they require us to be bold. The commemoration of World Aids Day this year is a reminder that we need to resolve to take the bull HIV/Aids by the horn and put it in the bin of history. “HASO wishes to remind all concerned that inequalities affect us all, no matter who we are or where we are. So, let us engage ourselves in actions to end inequalities and end Aids and all other pandemics that thrive on inequalities.”