Medications are not pens and patients are not just statistics
Dear Prime Minister, Dear Minister of Finance, Dear Minister of Health,
Thirty years ago, we brought medications for opportunistic infections and donated them to hospitals to treat over 2,000 children with HIV/AIDS.
Twenty-five years ago, we established daycare sections and a mobile medical assistance caravan for 3,500 children with HIV/AIDS.
Twenty years ago, together with other non-governmental organizations and UNAIDS (the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS), we made possible the law that protects the rights of children and adults with HIV/AIDS, including uninterrupted access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment.
National HIV/AIDS Plan
For four years, we have been pleading with the Ministry of Health to approve the National HIV/AIDS Plan, which contains preventive measures to avoid reaching the point of treating patients. Today, we should be reassured that, with access to treatment, people with HIV can live long and normal lives.
However, the Government of Romania is violating the fundamental rights of over 17,000 people, including children, young people, and adults living with HIV infection. The funds for treatment should have been allocated by the Government at least three months ago. They were allocated, but with great delay, in September. Patients with weakened immunity are being forced to travel during a pandemic wave. The lives of children saved 30 years ago and others diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are in danger.
Prime Minister Florin Cîțu has been drip-feeding funds to the Ministry of Health, from budget revision to budget revision, and even then, not enough to fully ensure the treatment of people included in the National Health Programs. Like many other Prime Ministers of Romania, he forgets that medications are not pens and that HIV or tuberculosis patients cannot postpone their treatment while waiting for the Government’s goodwill.
Source: Unsplash
Letter to the Minister of Health
Two weeks ago, together with colleagues from other non-governmental organizations and public institutions, we sent a letter to the Minister of Health, drawing attention to the unacceptable situation regarding the lack of treatment for HIV/AIDS. We also requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Cîțu to explain why he cannot play with the Ministry of Health’s budget in this manner. Unsurprisingly, as has been the case many times over the past 30 years, we received no response.
This Government’s governance has been another failure. The responsibility for the lives and health of citizens, the very reason for the existence of a state, has proven once again to be less important than political disputes and ambitions.
Source: Unsplash
The Importance of HIV Testing
HIV testing is essential to determine the dynamics of infections at the local level. In the current epidemiological context, 30% fewer HIV tests have been performed on at-risk groups compared to 2019, so the current situation of the infection’s spread is unknown.
The existence of social stigma regarding HIV and distrust in the confidentiality of medical data are major obstacles to preventing this infection.
Communication campaigns are needed to reduce stigma and encourage testing among vulnerable groups (LGBTQI+ communities, drug users, and people involved in commercial sex).
