Every year Argentina sees 5,000 new cases of HIV, according to Health Ministry data – an alarming statistic made even more concerning by the fact that 98 percent of those infections stem from unprotected sex.
Nevertheless, levels of new diagnoses have remained stable over the past two decades, underlining the progress the nation has made since the global crisis of the 1980s.
On December 1, the world came together to mark World AIDS Day – a powerful reminder to raise awareness, foster education and break the stigma surrounding HIV.
HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex, sharing needles, or from mother to child during pregnancy. In Argentina, the reality hits close to home: over 140,000 people are living with the virus today nationwide.
Yet there are fears that the progress made over the last four decades could be about to take a step back.
According to a recent report by the Chequeado fact-checking site, Argentina has witnessed a 64-percent drop in the distribution of condoms and contraceptives since President Javier Milei assumed office – a consequence of widespread government spending cuts.
A concerning trend that undermines one of the simplest and most effective tools for preventing the spread of HIV: condoms.
Fundación Huésped
Leandro Cahn, executive director of Fundación Huésped NGO, noted in an interview that infection rates in Argentina have remained the same over the last 20 years. While this is good because rates aren’t going up, something is missing too, because rates are not going down, he explained.
“The 5,000 cases we have year after year shows us that they need to strengthen the HIV testing, the HIV care, the HIV treatment,” he told the Times.
Cahn has worked at the foundation for many years and it just celebrated the 35th anniversary of its founding.
“Originally it [Fundación Huésped] was created as a way to collaborate with the infectious disease service at one of the public hospitals in Buenos Aires, where by chance some of the first people living with HIV came for help with what afterward we realized was HIV/AIDS,” explained Cahn.
The first case of HIV in Argentina was reported in 1982. Shortly after, in 1988, the first campaign to raise awareness began.
Fundación Huésped originally was devoted to HIV/AIDS but has since expanded to supporting other sexually transmitted infections. It offers free HIV testing at its headquarters and within different communities. They provide services free of charge including legal advice and psychological support for those who have been diagnosed.
Fundación Huésped prides itself on working with underserved populations such as trans populations, migrant populations, sex workers and the LGBT community in general.
Government support
The support for those living with HIV has greatly improved in recent years but there is a level of uncertainty felt by many communities across the nation.
Specifically about the security and support of their health rights from the government.
Dr. Marcelo Losso currently heads the Immunocompromised Patients Service at the JM Ramos Mejía General Acute Hospital in Buenos Aires. An expert physician who has worked with HIV patients in Argentina since the 1990s, he has seen numerous changes in government support.
Asked about how the change in the Argentine government will impact HIV patient care, Dr. Losso noted: “Right now there are no major issues regarding coverage with the treatments. It is clear that the Health Ministry at the national level is changing their view and trying to force patients who have coverage to receive treatment through their systems, not through the public sector.”
This wave of transfer from national to provincial jurisdictions has been seen before in the 1990s, an echo of Carlos Menem’s Presidency.
“So this transfer from the national level to the provincial jurisdictions occurred in the 90s. The budget for patient care came basically through those jurisdictions and not from the national level,” explained Dr Losso.
Some experts have expressed concerns that widespread government cutbacks will affect attempts to tackle HIV/AIDS.
“It is clear that this administration [Milei’s] again is working in this direction, so we are seeing what was happening with the coverage of treatment. Right now for patients who have no social insurance or no private coverage, those treatments are provided by the national programme, financed by the NationalHealth Ministry.”
Treatments
The treatments to which Dr. Losso refers include a variety of medicines and types of care. PrEP, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, is an antiviral drug which t can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout the body.
“This [PrEP] is a very effective strategy right now for HIV prevention, and this is a clear field where we need to work much more to provide access to the people at risk to this strategy.” Dr. Losso said. “There are a lot of new treatments and new strategies to provide PrEP in a better delivery way. For example, now you just have to take a pill every day to avoid the risk of HIV infection.”
“There are a lot of types of development to receive the drug, for example, subcutaneously every six months or intramuscularly every three months, which really has a lot of benefits for people who have trouble with adherence, taking pills every day,” explained Losso.
There is an array of developments and options today for HIV patients to treat the infection before it spreads, in the hope of reducing the likelihood of developing AIDS.
Fundación Huésped, founded in 1989, has been at the forefront of various long-acting studies for both HIV treatment and PrEP. They were one of the centres of HVTN 083, a trial network which tested and discovered the efficacy of Cabotegravir and Lenacapavir, two antiretroviral medications used to treat HIV/AIDS.
Cahn shared, “We [Fundación Huésped] are really engaged in that [long-acting studies] and we think it's our game-changer for the future.”
Stigma
All of the research and development over the last 20 years has placed Argentina as one of the most progressive countries in HIV research in Latin America.
And though there has been a lot of health-related progress in development, the stigma is still prevalent.
Cahn believes that “stigma and discrimination are drivers of the epidemic. We have advanced a lot in the biomedical response. Although there have been big steps, the social response is a major culprit of the epidemic.”
“People will have sex, no matter what. The difference is if they can have this safe space and good access to prevention strategy, or they will do it hidden with less care about their own health and with more risk to get infected.”
Dr. Losso reminds us that “if you are a sexually active person, you have to be tested once a year, at least. This is an important aspect of medical prevention because we have the strategies available, the treatments available to avoid any complications regarding HIV infection.”
World AIDS Day serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of education, prevention, and support in combatting HIV and AIDS globally. In Argentina, the persistent stigma surrounding HIV underscores the need for continued advocacy and awareness.
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