Por: Alexandre Padilha – Folha de São Paulo
Folha de São Paulo – 05/06/2011
The international community, gathered this week in New York, discusses the progress and challenges of prevention and treatment of AIDS at the moment we are completing three decades of living with HIV. Since the initial panic triggered by the disease, whose first manifestations were detected in 1981, we have come a long way to the present moment, in which people living with HIV/Aids having access to appropriate treatments have longevity and quality of life preserved.
There is no doubt that Brazil had a leading role and a pioneering spirit during this trajetory. At the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, Brazil shows achievements and willingness to help other countries, especially the poorest, to face the disease. In addition to the policies of prevention, early diagnosis and free and universal access to antiretroviral treatment, axes of action of the Ministry of Health, we will bring to the conference our partnership with civil society in developing strategies to combat AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. We also present the law signed by President Dilma which provides for the donation of two dollars for each international air ticket to the International Drug Purchase Facility (UNITAID), with no extra fee for passengers.
20 years ago, when the first drugs were discovered, we began offering the treatment by the Unified Health System (SUS). For 15 years the service is universal and benefits, today, 210.000 Brazilians. Currently, we produce ten out of twenty medicines offered on the cocktail distributed to patients and ensure a network of HIV monitoring, such as tests of viral load and immune system.
With the encouragement of domestic industry and expansion in assistance, the individual cost dropped 24% since 2003. In addition to purchasing the drugs directly, with own funds, the Ministry of Health transfers funds to states and municipalities to assist them in distribution to patients.
This set of measures has significant results. People diagnosed with HIV in the early stage of the disease, because they have access to treatment, have longevity and living conditions similar to those living without the virus. Among children, the chance of overcoming the barrier of five years after diagnosis soared from 24% to 86% between the years 1983 and 2007. The transmission from mother to baby during pregnancy fell 44.4% from 1999 to 2009. Moreover, we work to prevent contamination, stimulating, especially the practice of safe sex. Just this year, we will distribute 1.4 billion condoms, and we will promote awareness campaigns and guidance.
With our policy of harm reduction for drug addicts, we reduced the infection by injecting drugs from 25% in early 1990 to 5.8% among men and 2% among women.
The effectiveness of our strong policy of prevention is attested by the stability of the epidemic in Brazil over the past decade. The Brazilian experience in the last 30 years does not exclude us from recognizing the challenges that the fight against AIDS still imposes. Research indicates growth of the virus among women and among younger people, whose vulnerability maybe resides in the fact that they were not part of the generation that suffered, with perplexity, the loss of idols, relatives and friends to AIDS. Overcoming these obstacles must preserve our most important achievement: the structure of the host network, without any prejudice or judgment, for those living with HIV. Besides ensuring the health, it is essential to keep working for the respect to the self-esteem and citizenship of all.
ALEXANDRE PADILHA, 39, is Ministry of Health