Staff reporter
Pietro De Sanctis Mangelli

It’s estimated that since 1800 AIDS has started to infect humans, starting from Central Africa. The AIDS humanity knows today originated from a similar virus that came from chimpanzees in Africa and was passed to humans when they haunted these chimpanzees.
According to the CDC, one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services, From 1981 HIV, which is responsible for AIDS infection, started spreading throughout the world. Studies made by CDC show that the main reason for that was drug abuse during those times, one of the ways the HIV virus spreads is through blood.
As written in the UN article “Proven solutions must be put in place to end AIDS by 2030”, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that the world is still “off track” regarding the promise of eradication of the virus by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting HIV and other essential services, according to UNDP the recent Global Fund Results report shows a 22% decrease in people getting tested for HIV compared to 2019 and an 11% decrease in people accessing HIV prevention services.


On the other hand, HIV and COVID-19 are showing us that global solidarity, stronger collaboration, and new partnerships are needed to safeguard and accelerate progress. Furthermore, IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science, will take place in Brisbane, Australia, The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications. IAS 2023, being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, will shine a spotlight on the world’s advances in HIV research.


There are many testimonials from people who suffer, or have suffered, from AIDS infection, one of the most important ones comes from HIV activist and Unitaid board member, Maureen Murenga. Ms. Maureen during an interview said: “is really saddening because when I was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago, I was an adolescent and a young woman, and I thought that 20 years later we would be telling a different story and not the same sad story”. Maureen Murenga also founded an organization called the Lean On Me Foundation, through this organization she managed to help young girls affected by this virus. Although there are many of these organizations, in accordance with UNITAID, in 2019 there were more than 1.5 million people affected by HIV and 650 thousand deaths, that is a scary number because it means that in 2019 one person out of three affected by AIDS would die.