Opinion | Global HIV response holds lessons for fight against coronavirus

Name: India’s mass-vaccination drive falters as country hits 20 million coronavirus cases
Uploaded: 2021-06-04T19:30:09.000Z
Duration: 3 min 26 s
Description: India’s mass-vaccination drive falters as country hits 20 million coronavirus cases

International solidarity, addressing inequality and looking beyond health concerns are key to preventing future health emergencies

As with HIV, Covid-19 is showing that pandemics and their impacts are about more than just health

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Sand artist Sudersan Pattnaik puts the final touches to a sand sculpture on the eve of World Aids Day on Golden Sea Beach in Puri, India, on November 29, 2013. Photo: AFP

Shannon Hader

Published: 3:30am, 5 Jun 2021Updated: 6:28am, 5 Jun 2021

It is our duty to learn the important lessons from the global HIV response for fighting Covid-19 and preventing future health emergencies. We have three lessons to share.

First, a global health threat – be it HIV, polio or Covid-19 – can only be defeated with the solidarity of a global commitment. International cooperation and highest-level ambition in the plan are crucial.

For the current Covid-19 response, we still have far to go to realise that solidarity and achieve equal results across the world.

Early in the pandemic, even before there was a vaccine, UNAids and partners called for a “people’s vaccine”, espousing the principle that where you live should not determine your place in the queue for the vaccine.

03:26

India’s mass-vaccination drive falters as country hits 20 million coronavirus cases

What we didn’t want to see is a repeat of the HIV response, where poorer countries waited nearly a decade after the roll-out of effective HIV treatment in wealthy countries before it became available to them.