In the period from 1980 to the month of June of last year, the Ministry of Health detected 1,11,000 cases of AIDS in Brazil. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is caused by the HIV virus. And, despite reaching so many Brazilians, it slowed down at the beginning of this century. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), from the year 2000 to 2019, new HIV infections dropped 39%, and HIV-related deaths dropped 51%.
The goal is to expand the health response and end the epidemic of AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the Americas by the year 2030. And this is done with information, as stated by psychologist and neuropsychologist Juliana Gebrim.
“These people, who have these processes of discrimination, are people who have a certain spiritual rickets. Often because they are ignorant – so much ignorance of the person who is brutish, with very primitive and animalistic instincts, or people who do not have the correct information, who study little, who read little, is a tragedy in every sense,” he said.
This Wednesday (1st) is the World Day to Fight AIDS and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) chose as the theme “End inequalities. End AIDS. End pandemics.”
Treatment, such as that offered free of charge by the Unified Health System (SUS), has become simpler and allows an infected person not to develop the disease. That’s what happened with Godoy, who works as a volunteer in a rehabilitation clinic for drug addicts.
“When I started taking the medicine, I took 16 pills a day. And I had a lot of diarrhea – I couldn’t eat out because I already had to go to the bathroom. But then I changed the medications, and today there’s nothing like that anymore. (A amount of) medicine is much smaller: I take four today and it’s getting better.
Godoy contracted HIV while using drugs and now helps others. He says that receiving the diagnosis was a very difficult time.
“I always say that HIV saved my life. Because it was my rock bottom, in relation to substance abuse. When I received the news, the diagnosis – which I read myself – I went down to the very bottom and then rise again, be born again. So I managed to stay clean, my life improved a lot later. I have nothing to fear. For me it was a rebirth, not a death.”
But not everyone is able to lead this normal life – because, for that, you need to get tested and, if positive, start treatment with medical supervision. WHO estimates that 81% of people with HIV on the planet are aware of this condition. And six out of 10 infected with HIV are undetectable due to treatment with antiretroviral drugs. That is, they have such low viral loads that they no longer transmit the virus, at least during sexual intercourse. From 2000 to 2019, more than 15 million lives were saved by these treatments.
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But for almost a fifth of those infected, the discovery comes too late, when AIDS has already developed. Since the late 1970s, more than 33 million people have died from the disease worldwide.
Psychologist and neuropsychologist Juliana Gebrim recalls that, regardless of the stage of the infection, people living with HIV need to be welcomed.
“This person will go through several psychological processes. First, they may start denying that they have the virus, they will undergo the test several times. Then they will enter the process in a lot of anger at themselves and perhaps at the agent or the place where they are Afterwards, she enters a bargaining phase, where she tries to negotiate improvements to get her out of the frame. But, later, she can enter the depressive state. And then it’s time to be careful, because the person’s immunity can go down into a depressive state. And later on, reach the acceptance stage,” he explained.
WHO assesses that the covid-19 pandemic has aggravated health inequalities and hampered access to health services. Therefore, the organization takes advantage of today to call on world leaders to unite to ensure adequate care to prevent infections and treat people infected with HIV.
*With production by Salete Sobreira
