The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the global battle against infectious diseases. Several countries have made improvements in their fight against new HIV infections in recent years, but reports say the coronavirus crisis has undermined HIV prevention and sexual reproductive health services for key populations and affected communities worldwide.
Even the world’s leading HIV conference must go virtual because of the pandemic. AIDS 2020: Virtual will be the first digital edition of the International AIDS Conference, held from July 6 to 10. The conference is focusing on efforts to expand people’s access to the much-needed antiretroviral therapy (ART) to combat HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region. In Asia-Pacific, more than 70 percent of new infections are found among key populations and their sexual partners. One quarter of new HIV infections in the region were discovered in young people aged 15-24 years old in 2018, mostly living in Indonesia. Key populations include members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, commercial sex workers and their clients, pregnant women (who have a higher risk of being infected), patients with chronic tuberculosis (TB) and people with sexually transmitted infections.