Africa-Press – Namibia. Former First Lady and founder of the One Economy Foundation, Monica Geingos, has highlighted the potential of new long-acting HIV medicines to transform prevention efforts in Namibia, particularly among young women at high risk of infection.
“We now have revolutionary long-acting medicines for HIV that are available, and which can absolutely transform the HIV response. However, many low- and middle-income countries have limited or no access to this breakthrough technology. In Namibia, where I’m from, this could be an absolute game changer for our young women who are at risk of HIV,” she said.
Geingos made the remarks on Monday during the launch of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics report, themed ‘Breaking the Inequality-Pandemic Cycle: Building True Health Security in a Global Age’.
Participating online in a discussion during the launch held in Johannesburg, Geingos illustrated that although scientific and technological achievements have been made, these achievements have been hindered by failures.
“We’re at an awkward place where breakthroughs in science and technology have still been met by a failure to share technology across borders in pandemics,” she said.
Geingos stated that the intellectual property barriers and the insufficient manufacturing capacity together “continue to mean that the supply of pandemic technologies continues to be insufficient to the needs of those who need them the most.”
The discussions also included council members such as American economist and professor Joseph Stiglitz, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, Professor Michael Marmot, and Brazil’s former health minister, Nísia Trindade Lima.
The document was launched in Johannesburg and online globally. It highlights the dangers of inequalities that are prolonging current pandemics such as HIV and tuberculosis, and making the world more vulnerable to future pandemics.
The report was compiled by world-leading economists, public health experts, and political leaders from diverse parts of the world, and is based on two years of research and global convenings.
It shows that high levels of inequality are related to outbreaks becoming pandemics and that inequality is sabotaging national and global responses, making pandemics more disturbing, lethal, and longer in duration. -Nampa
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