World AIDS Day 2020
Highlighting the role of young Pharmacists in strengthening the capacity (and resilience) of communities and health systems, to address HIV prevention services amid a global pandemic.
By FIP YPG Publications Team
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and weakens its defense against many infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no cure for HIV, but it can be controlled with effective treatments. If left untreated, HIV can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the most severe stage of HIV, characterized by severely damaged immune systems.
With an estimated 38 million people living with HIV at the end of 2019, HIV remains a major global public health crisis. In 2019, there were 1.7 million people newly infected with HIV worldwide (WHO, 2020). To galvanize public support of AIDS research and investigation, in 1988, WHO founded the first-ever global health day — World AIDS Day (CDC, 2020). Observed each year on December 1, the World AIDS Day provides a global opportunity for people to unite in the fight against HIV, remember those who have died from an HIV-related illness and show their support for people living with HIV (CDC, 2020). The international symbol of HIV awareness and support is a red ribbon (UNAIDS, 2020a).
This year, the HIV crisis faces additional challenges during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (WHO, 2020). COVID-19 pandemic has strained health systems and exposed gaps in public health (The Lancet, 2020), thereby threatening the progress made by the world against HIV in the past 20 years (UNAIDS, 2020b). With this in mind, this year’s theme of the World AIDS Day revolves around the resilience of the healthcare system. Different agencies have adopted slightly different themes. For example Global solidarity and shared responsibility (UNAIDS), Global solidarity, resilient services (WHO), Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience & Impact (CDC), and Science and Community: Working together to prepare for the unexpected (National Institute of health).
COVID-19 pandemic like the HIV epidemic has demonstrated once again how health is interlinked with other critical issues such as human rights, inequalities and economic growth (UNAIDS, 2020c). As young pharmacists, it is our place to work within our communities to inspire shared responsibilities with each other in the fight against the colliding epidemics of HIV and COVID-19.
As the most accessible healthcare practitioners, pharmacists can play an important role, to bridge the gap in human rights and inequalities, by supporting this year’s World AIDS Day through the following:
- Raise Awareness
To raise awareness about the impact of HIV in their communities, pharmacists must get educated on HIV prevention and treatment options. Pharmacists need to connect with their local community HIV services to learn about supportive services. Knowledge and information about HIV, framed in a positive way, can be communicated to patients and other healthcare practitioners during medication use reviews and patient counseling. Pharmacists’ involvement in raising awareness can help reduce HIV stigma and encourage testing and treatment of people with HIV. With the current COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, pharmacists can provide HIV/AIDS education and campaign materials digitally through social media platforms. When disseminating HIV education through social media, consider using official national and international hashtags and URLs to help direct your viewers to more relevant information.
2. Testing
HIV testing is the first step in linking patients to HIV prevention and treatment. Knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms of early HIV infection, pharmacists are in an ideal position to recommend HIV testing according to country-specific guidelines. Pharmacists can direct patients to community HIV-testing sites, provide onsite rapid HIV testing or self-tests kits for patients to use at home. The use of self-testing kits should be recommended during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists can also provide counseling on HIV tests and assist in test interpretation.
3. Treatment
As a member of an interdisciplinary team, pharmacists are familiar with HIV treatments and country-specific management guidelines. Pharmacists can assess a patient’s readiness to initiate antiretroviral therapies, including the identification of potential adherence barriers and the provision of ongoing monitoring and barrier management as needed. Non-adherence and antiretroviral therapy resistance can lead to treatment failures. Pharmacists can collaborate with other healthcare providers to identify and resolve barriers to successful treatment outcomes. Given the fact that antiretroviral agents interact with many medications, foods, nutrients and herbal supplements, pharmacists should provide patient interviews and medication history reviews to assess for drug-drug and drug-food interactions.
4. Collaboration
The integration of pharmacists with other health care practitioners, to provide patient-centred care, improves outcomes for patients with HIV. It improves retention in HIV care, adherence to antiretroviral therapy and HIV viral load suppression. Working with an interdisciplinary team, pharmacists also play a vital role in the management of opportunistic infections, HIV prevention, and making medications more accessible. To reduce the frequency of face-to-face interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pharmacists can work with other healthcare providers to encourage the use of telemedicine and the dispensing of drugs for multiple months.
Pharmacists have a role to play in stopping HIV, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we celebrate World AIDS Day on December 1st, pharmacists should show support for people living with and affected by HIV. Pharmacists should use their training and skill set to help meet the challenges of HIV treatment by increasing awareness and ensuring the use of effective antiretroviral regimens; monitoring patients; reinforcing adherence, and screening for drug interactions.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (November 20, 2020). https://www.worldaidsday.org/
The Lancet. (November 28, 2020). Maintaining the HIV response in a world shaped by COVID-19. 396(10264): P1703. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32526-5
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDs. (2020a). World AIDS DAY. https://www.unaids.org/en/World_AIDS_Day
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. (2020b). World AIDS Day 2020 messaged from UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2020/november/world-aids-day-2020-message-from-executive-director-winnie-byanyima
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDs. (2020c). World AIDS DAY. https://spark.adobe.com/page/OdpIRTRApOghp/
World Health Organization. (2020). World AIDS DAY 2020: Global solidarity, resilient services. https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-aids-day/2020
