COVID-19 threatens the progress the world has made in the fight against HIV/AIDS
A message from our CEO Ed Monchen:
”Every year, on December 1st, World AIDS Day spotlights the fight against AIDS worldwide and encourages greater solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS.
But this year the fight against HIV/AIDS has got a new enemy. COVID-19 threatens the progress the world has made on health sector development, including the 40 years of fighting against HIV/AIDS. The breakdown in essential HIV services due to COVID-19 is threatening lives. For example, HIV testing sites are currently mainly testing people for the coronavirus. Testing for HIV in people’s homes is much more difficult than before. As a result, fewer HIV cases are detected, increasing the likelihood that people will infect others unsuspectingly, or that their infection will be discovered too late to save them. Moreover, HIV patients sometimes do not dare to go to a hospital or clinic for fear of corona. The Global Fund estimates that the number of victims will double this year due to lockdowns and people not receiving their medication.
The supply chain landscape has changed enormously since COVID-19 and the pandemic severely compromises the supply and availability of life-saving HIV drugs in many countries.
We, as i+solutions, being one of the largest procurement agents for HIV/AIDS treatments, managed to ship most treatments on time and in full despite of lockdowns in producing countries and limited international freight forwarding. We are proud that we were able to ship 512 containers of HIV medicines since March 2020. Read more about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain landscape here.
Currently i+solutions contributes to the daily treatment of 4.6 million HIV patients in 65 countries via its procurement and logistics services.
i+solutions and it partners will continue to work with governments to strengthen their health systems by making them more sustainable and resilient. We will also continue our efforts to eliminate marginalization among key populations, by ensuring that quality medicines and core products are regularly available at an affordable price. For more information on our activities, please check our renewed website www.iplussolutions.org or our procurement portal www.covidcommodities.org.
We take the opportunity to thank all our partners for joining us in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We care for the people living with this disease and are committed to continue our efforts next year, despite all the new challenges caused by the other virus, which has impacted all our lives.
Kind regards,
Ed Monchen
CEO”
