Coronavirus Proves Need for Free Healthcare for All – Now

Kansiime and her daughters arrive at the Mbarara Hospital. The three family members all live with HIV and go to the clinic regularly to collect their medication. "When I go to hospital, I am surrounded by other women who have come for treatment. We are there for the same reason,” Kansiime says. “This has helped me overcome stigma and given me strength." Credit: UNICEF/UNI211907/SchermbruckerBy Winnie ByanyimaGENEVA, Apr 2 2020 (IPS) The multi-layered crisis of the Coronavirus epidemic has been a dramatic shock to everyone. But, to communities affected by HIV and AIDS, the crisis has not only brought a further shock to already vulnerable people, it has brought other reactions too – a troubling sense of déjà vu, and a passionate, empathetic, fierce solidarity with all those affected by Coronavirus. No two pandemics are the same. All require a specific, tailored, response. But we also have a duty, when dangerous, unjust and unsustainable structural weaknesses are exposed by one pandemic, left unresolved, and then jeopardize the fight against a second pandemic, to ensure that we don’t wait for the third. Everyone involved in the fight against AIDS is determined to do everything we can to support all those affected by the Coronavirus epidemic. We are by your side. We waited years for many of the breakthroughs we fought for, and we are still waiting for many others; we refuse to let leaders make you wait in this new crisis as they have made us wait. The time to fix the r...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Civil Society Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news