Right to health- World AIDS Day 2017
Right to health- World AIDS Day 2017: World AIDS Day takes place on the 1st December each year. In 2015, global leaders signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals, with the aim to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. The UHC framework now lies at the centre of all health programmes.
To complement the global World AIDS Day 2017 campaign which promotes the theme “Right to health”, the World Health Organization will highlight the need for all 36.7 million people living with HIV and those who are vulnerable and affected by the epidemic, to reach the goal of universal health coverage.
Under the slogan “Everybody counts”, WHO will advocate for access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines, including medicines, diagnostics and other health commodities as well as health care services for all people in need, while also ensuring that they are protected against financial risks.
Key messages to achieve univeral health coverage
- Leave no one behind.
- HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis services are integrated.
- High-quality services are available for those with HIV.
- People living with HIV have access to affordable care.
- The HIV response is robust and leads to stronger health systems
My health, my right
The right to health is the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This includes the right of everyone, including people living with and affected by HIV, to the prevention and treatment of ill health, to make decisions about one’s own health and to be treated with respect and dignity and without discrimination.
Everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live, has a right to health, which is also dependent on adequate sanitation and housing, nutritious food, healthy working conditions and access to justice.
The right to health is supported by, and linked to, a wider set of rights. Without the conditions to ensure access to justice, the right to a clean environment, the right to be free from violence or the right to education, for example, we cannot fulfil our right to health.
Ending AIDS as a public health threat can only happen if these rights are placed at the centre of global health, so that quality health care is available and accessible for everyone and leaves no one behind.
In the lead-up to 1 December, the #myrighttohealth campaign will explore the challenges people around the world face in exercising their right to health.
The #myrighttohealth campaign will provide information about the right to health and what impact it has on people’s lives. It will also aim to increase the visibility around the need to achieve the full realization of the right to health by everyone, everywhere.
Almost all of the Sustainable Development Goals are linked in some way to health, so achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which include ending the AIDS epidemic, will depend heavily on ensuring the right to health.
- HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far. In 2016, 1.0 million people died from HIV-related causes globally.
- There were approximately 36.7 million people living with HIV at the end of 2016 with 1.8 million people becoming newly infected in 2016 globally.
- 54% of adults and 43% of children living with HIV are currently receiving lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART).
- Global ART coverage for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV is high at 76% .
- In 2015, an estimated 44% of new infections occurred among key populations and their partners.
- It is estimated that currently only 70% of people with HIV know their status. To reach the target of 90%, an additional 7.5 million people need to access HIV testing services. In mid-2017, 20.9 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally.
- Between 2000 and 2016, new HIV infections fell by 39%, and HIV-related deaths fell by one third with 13.1 million lives saved due to ART in the same period. This achievement was the result of great efforts by national HIV programmes supported by civil society and a range of development partners.
Nepal Estimates of HIV Infections-2016
|HIV Prevalence (15-49)||0.17|
|Male living with HIV||20,232 (62%)|
|Female living with HIV||12,503 (38%)|
|Children living with HIV (out of total infections)||1,197 (3.5%)|
|HIV Incidence per 1000||0.03|
|New HIV infections||942|
|Mother Needing eVT services||284|