
Already Reeling Venezuela Faces a New Challenge: An HIV Outbreak—Public Health Watch
With drug shortages and rising incidence of HIV/AIDS, the South American country may be on the verge of a public health crisis.
In October 2016, Human Rights Watch first described Venezuela as being in the midst of a “
The government of President Nicolas Maduro has stifled dissent, sometimes using violent means to do so. Vital medicines are in short supply. Food and some basic necessities are scarce and, when available, are sold at exorbitant prices. Indeed, throughout the South American country, inflation has far outpaced wage growth. And, then there is the matter of refugees, with the nation’s poor crossing the border in droves into neighboring Colombia, seeking food, medical care, and, ultimately, better lives.
Now there are reports suggesting that there is an outbreak of HIV/AIDS among an isolated population of indigenous peoples, according to
“As the great tuberculosis (TB) researcher George Comstock used to say, ‘TB anywhere is TB everywhere,’ and the same is true for HIV,” Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and professor, Epidemiology, International Health, Health, Behavior and Society, and Nursing, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Treatment in both diseases saves lives and prevents onward transmission, and that’s why it’s so essential” to address the emerging problem in Venezuela.
According to Dr. Beyrer, who is also director of the Johns Hopkins Training Program in HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Science, the outbreak in Venezuela is hardly a new thing for the continent. In fact, the city of Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, has an ongoing outbreak among men who have sex with men, and at its height, in the early 2000s, incidence was increasing at a rate of 3% per year.
However, what makes the latest HIV/AIDS news out of Venezuela so troubling is the current political and social climate. The World Health Organization (WHO)
And,
“This is how to restart an epidemic,” Dr. Beyrer noted. “The majority of patients in the country who were on antiretrovirals have had to stop treatment, and of course HIV comes very quickly back to very high viral load levels in essentially all of these patients.”
Making matters even worse, he added, once off therapy, patients can transmit the virus to their sexual partners, creating new cases. Sources have told Contagion® that several organizations are working on the ground to provide needed antiretrovirals, including Aid for AIDS International and Medicos del Mundo (MdM), but that more help is needed.
“Venezuelans are now going to Brazil and other neighboring states to get antiretrovirals,” he continued, adding that the international community needs to support these countries with additional funds and resources. “The Maduro government must allow unfettered access to [HIV-related organizations], including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and I would argue that an emergency fund for the provision of antiretrovirals should be considered. The epidemic [there] is not that large, at present, so this is very much within the existing budget framework of the Global Fund and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and others. New WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom should make an emergency diplomatic mission to Venezuela and call for change to avoid immediate loss of life and worsening of the epidemic. He has the bully pulpit and should use it.”
Here’s hoping the world is listening.
Brian P. Dunleavy is a medical writer and editor based in New York. His work has appeared in numerous health care-related publications. He is the former editor of Infectious Disease Special Edition.
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