Every year, on 1 December, World Aids Day, the whole world shines a spotlight and a red ribbon for HIV and AIDS awareness. Approximately 40 million people have died from HIV/AIDS. Thanks to medical advancements, HIV is preventable and treatable. Despite the advancements made when it comes to treatment and prevention, many people are still not taking advantage of these advancements. An estimated 210 000 South Africans were diagnosed with HIV in 2021 alone, the numbers keep growing and it is said to be the stigma that limits our progress.
WHY RENAME HIV TO #UPDATEHIV
According to Bongiwe Ndlovu, from a pro health-focused non-profit organisation, Ohhh! Foundation, stigma hinders care and prevention and passionately believes it is time to change the way the world sees HIV. With its "Update HIV' campaign, Youth against AIDS is an initiative of the Ohhh! Foundation now hopes to strike a new path in the fight against HIV by fightingthe stigma around HIV. Kicking off World AIDS Day, the organisation has released a letter calling on the World Health Organisation Director to officially rename HIV. Bongiwe tells Zimoja,' Since the virus's discovery in the 80s, Southern Africa remains one of the regions with the highest HIV prevalence in the world. And in the past decades, HIV Campaigns have taken a back seat to vaccination crives and COVID while condom usage drops,' she says."This is why we believe that it is crucial that we continue to fight HIV now,as statistics indicate that 210,000 people became newly infected with HIV in 2021. HIV infections are fully preventable. Yet last year, 1.5 million people became infected. It's not medicine holding us back ?" we need to update our approach to this epidemic. We need to #UpdateHIV.'
NOT A MEDICAL ISSUE BUT ALSO SOCIAL
Bongiwe adds that renaming HIV may sound crazy. "But if you were one of the 38 million people living with the stigma attached to HIV today, you too would want the world to take a fresh look at the virus,' she says.' Years of research have transformed HIV into a fully preventable and treatable condition. Today, the most significant barriers to ending the HIV epidemic are not medical but social, cultural, and mental. To overcome them, we need to update our approach. We need to rename HIV. Update HIV is a global health campaign to fight HIV stigma by challenging the conversation around the virus. HIV is no longer a death sentence. It's time for the world to know. If we change the name, we can end the stigma. Forever.'
BREAKING THE STIGMA
In 2021, some 38 million people were living with HIV, and an estimated 650,000 people were lost to AIDS-related deaths. Bongiwe adds, "Today's youth will inherit some of the greatest global challenges humanity has ever faced. The HIV epidemic does not need to be one of them. The bitter irony?' she questions. "HIV is treatable and fully preventable. But the stigma around HIV is stopping progress and costing lives.' The fear of HIV remains to this day, but our scientific understanding of the virus has advanced to the point that it is possible to end the epidemic by 2030. "Generation Z, the generation that inherited this epidemic could be the generation to end it. It's time to end the stigma.' Bongiwe says, "To end the epidemic, we need to change how the world views HIV. When we change the way we speak, we change the way we think. The term "HIV' is lethal. The virus, now more of a chronic disease, does not need to be. A new name would help the world see HIV as it is today: a global challenge that science, together with society, can overcome. A new name could help us look to the future, not the past. When we change the way we speak, we change the way we think,' she says. "That is why we have written an open letter to the Director General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedro Ghebreyesus, and the World Leaders, asking for their adoption and support of this campaign so we can work together to end the HIV epidemic. Let's change the name.' Bongiwe says that renaming starts with each individual."?It starts with you. How do you speak and think about HIV? That is where the biggest change needs to start, and that is where the biggest change needs to take place. Then from there as we advocate and lobby for the name change at the top level, we will represent people who are willing to rethink, rebrand, and rename HIV,' she says. "For too many, HIV means stigma. These three letters carry more than four decades of shame, prejudice, and false beliefs. Update HIV is a global health campaign to fight HIV stigma by challenging the conversation around the virus. HIV is no longer a death sentence. It's time for the world to know. Join the update to change the name and end the stigma. Forever.'
