Failures In The Fight...

 

There has been significant advancements in the fight against HIV, yet it's still failing.  It's easy to place the blame on whatever; the corporations, patients, governments, charities, etc...  But, this is a shared load.  

The fight against HIV is 45+ years old.  Test & meds became available in the 1980s & have improved ever since.  We've known how to prevent the spread of the virus.  We've known what groups were most apt to be infected.  We've understood stigma, lack of awareness, misinformation, & needing accessibility.  Still, the fight  lags.

Self test became available in 1996 with mail-in & as rapid, in-home test by 2012.  PrEP was offered in 2012 & has improved.  Single pill regimens have been around since 2006 & long acting meds began in 2021.  Yet HIV is still spreading.

Communities create shame & stigma.  Governments pass laws against Gays & those living with HIV.  Other governments use the meds or the withholding of them as a means of pressure & control.   

THe fight against HIV could've been nearing an end.  We've had the tools for decades.  But, social & administrative actions have limited & even threatened this fight.  We're no longer winning.  We're losing ground.  IMO, a single orange asshat is mainly responsible.  This man needs to die soon.

The battle against HIV was winnable.  Can it be now?  As things stand, I don't think so.  Maybe that's exactly what they wanted.

Cya...

5 Decades...

 

I've seen post on how we're in the 5th decade of the fight against HIV, sort of...   The virus existed before that.  It was discovered in the early 80s & took nearly a year to get a name that stuck.  So yeah, we're sort of 40+ years into the game.

That doesn't leave me very optimistic.  Newer meds have led to far less death.  Newer meds last longer, are easier to obtain & easier to tolerate.  Still, the push has been more on meds & maintenance instead than awareness, education & prevention.  If prevention is mentioned, it's to push PrEP.

No people aren't dying like the 80/90s.  But there usually aren't posters & condoms at bars anymore either.  The youngest generation prides itself on modern knowledge & knows the least about HIV.  COVID happened & nothing has recovered completely. 

I had far more hope for the end of HIV during the early 2000s than I do 20 years later.   Then I believed it was possible.  Now, I think it'd cost the drug companies too much profit for them to try.  There's a lot of lip service to ending HIV.  I think it's more like they're controlling it, corralling it, so they can keep it scary & profitable. 

I won't say it's simple, but when it comes to HIV the rules are.  There is no such thing as "Safe" sex only safer.  Even with condoms & PrEP there's always a chance & that doesn't take in other STD's, illnesses or crime. Read everything you can about HIV, testing, meds, trends, diets... just everything you can.  You are the only person who's going to educate & protect you.  It's your life, you can't trust anyone else with that.

40+ years in, the message is the same, be as safe as possible, because HIV doesn't care who or what you are.  Be kind to yourself & others.  You don't know their story & they don't know yours.  

Take care.

Cya...