By Francis Quamina Farrier
WITH the COVID-19 pandemic dominating the health-related headlines worldwide for over two years, HIV/AIDS, which was the principal health concern some two decades ago, has apparently been pushed to the backburner. That health scourge which was on almost everyone’s lips daily, is now being hardly noticed, discussed, or is of great concern to the general public as it once was.

It would be recalled that not so long ago, media reports as well as cultural productions, were almost always about HIV/AIDS. There were articles, lectures, commentaries, songs, poems, essays – and there were hundreds of speeches on HIV/AIDS. However, that transmissible disease, much like COVID-19, is still with us, and we still need to do whatever it takes to eradicate it. That must be done, even as we continue to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic. So, we have been struck with a double whammy, if you will; or as some Guyanese would say, “Ole house, pon ole house.”

In throwing the spotlight on HIV/AIDS in this article, is to belatedly join with millions of others globally, who observed “World Aids Day” last Wednesday.  World AIDS Day has been observed on December 1 every year since 1988. The world became aware of HIV and Aids as a horrible threat to health and life itself when the popular Hollywood movie star, Rock Hudson, contracted the disease and died of it. HIV/AIDS hit the international media and over the past three decades, scientists have been working relentlessly to end the global pandemic through innovative research. More recently, there have been significant breakthroughs, and reports are that the cure to HIV/AIDS is in sight. That, of course, is great news for the 38 million people who are living with HIV/AIDS globally. Deaths due to this disease are also ongoing, but not reported as widely in the regular media, as the focus is much more on COVID-19.

At this time, we all have to bear in mind that we need to live our lives constantly thinking of protecting ourselves from transmissable diseases – especially HIV/AIDS and the COVID-19. It is a period in medical history when we are advised to err on the side of being too careful, for many who have relaxed their health self-protection, have sadly contracted either COVID-19 or HIV/AIDS and have since died. While it is good to know that there is a steady decrease in the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS over the past two decades, that must not lure us into a false sense of security. We just have to continue to be vigilant and observe all the protocols, not only to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, but the HIV/AIDS as well.