World AIDS Day

In bangladesh though the number of confirmed HIV patients is not high, the alarming situation is that majority of these are unidentified

The World AIDS Day is being celebrated today all over the world including Bangladesh. Globally, an estimated 34 million people have the virus, and despite the fact that the virus was only identified in 1984, more than 35 million deaths have already been attributed to HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.
The disease can only be transmitted through fluid transfers via unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing of hypodermic needles, and mother-to-child transmission, the latter of which can be prevented through timely and appropriate actions.
Around 99.5 percent of children born from HIV positive women do not have HIV, while only two per cent of sufferers contracted the disease through intravenous drug use. According to UNAIDS, 15 million people have access to life-saving antiretroviral treatments.
New HIV infection rates have been reduced by 35 per cent since the year 2000, and AIDS-related deaths have reduced by 42 per cent since peaking in 2004. In Bangladesh though the number of confirmed HIV patients is not that high, the really alarming situation is that majority of these are unidentified either due to lack of awareness about the condition or social stigma attached to the disease. It is believed that there is a huge gap between the number of reported and actual HIV patients. 
Different studies have confirmed an escalating epidemic among drug users and more recently among male and transgender sex workers. Although overall HIV prevalence is low, HIV is well established among IDUs and epidemic is also spreading among transgenders. HIV among female sex workers has remained negligible–but many of them do suffer from other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases– stigma and discriminatory attitude from the general people and also from the health professionals inhibits the risk groups of having access of treatment. Given the protective effect of circumcision, a generalized sexually transmitted epidemic is unlikely but evidence of significant linkages between sex work and injecting drug use point to the potential for the spread of the epidemic far beyond these groups.
Unlike many other diseases, however, HIV/AIDS has received global attention and funding, thus building up pressure on governments to come up with supportive policies. World leaders have unanimously committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. This commitment reflects the power of solidarity to forge, from a destructive disease, one of the most inclusive movements in modern history. We believe that there should be laws that make discrimination against people living with the virus punishable. Such laws, however, can only deliver benefits within the overall constraints imposed by an underfunded public health system.

 

World AIDS Day

In bangladesh though the number of confirmed HIV patients is not high, the alarming situation is that majority of these are unidentified

The World AIDS Day is being celebrated today all over the world including Bangladesh. Globally, an estimated 34 million people have the virus, and despite the fact that the virus was only identified in 1984, more than 35 million deaths have already been attributed to HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history. The disease can only be transmitted through fluid transfers via unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing of hypodermic needles, and mother-to-child transmission, the latter of which can be prevented through timely and appropriate actions. Around 99.5 percent of children born from HIV positive women do not have HIV, while only two per cent of sufferers contracted the disease through intravenous drug use. According to UNAIDS, 15 million people have access to life-saving antiretroviral treatments. New HIV infection rates have been reduced by 35 per cent since the year 2000, and AIDS-related deaths have reduced by 42 per cent since peaking in 2004. In Bangladesh though the number of confirmed HIV patients is not that high, the really alarming situation is that majority of these are unidentified either due to lack of awareness about the condition or social stigma attached to the disease. It is believed that there is a huge gap between the number of reported and actual HIV patients. Different studies have confirmed an escalating epidemic among drug users and more recently among male and transgender sex workers. Although overall HIV prevalence is low, HIV is well established among IDUs and epidemic is also spreading among transgenders. HIV among female sex workers has remained negligiblebut many of them do suffer from other dangerous sexually transmitted diseases stigma and discriminatory attitude from the general people and also from the health professionals inhibits the risk groups of having access of treatment. Given the protective effect of circumcision, a generalized sexually transmitted epidemic is unlikely but evidence of significant linkages between sex work and injecting drug use point to the potential for the spread of the epidemic far beyond these groups. Unlike many other diseases, however, HIV/AIDS has received global attention and funding, thus building up pressure on governments to come up with supportive policies. World leaders have unanimously committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. This commitment reflects the power of solidarity to forge, from a destructive disease, one of the most inclusive movements in modern history. We believe that there should be laws that make discrimination against people living with the virus punishable. Such laws, however, can only deliver benefits within the overall constraints imposed by an underfunded public health system.