HIV and COVID-19: Pandemics of inequality

Susan Cole

Community Engagement Manager, NAM Aidsmap

The COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately affecting people facing disadvantage and discrimination, has shone a light on existing health inequalities across disease areas, but the parallels are particularly stark with HIV.

Ill health and death

“The global HIV epidemic has been underpinned and driven by socioeconomic inequalities since its emergence in the 1980s,” said Dr Vanessa Apea, a London based HIV and sexual health consultant. Despite the huge progress in HIV treatment, meaning people with HIV on effective treatment can except to live long healthy lives and not pass on HIV to sexual partners, significant health inequalities still exist. In the UK, 74% of heterosexuals diagnosed with HIV are from minority ethnic communities and they are much more likely to be diagnosed late, an important predictor of ill health and death. 

The same mistakes

James Cole, STOPAIDS Advocacy Officer, said “Millions of people in lower income countries lost their lives waiting for access to lifesaving HIV medication. We are now witnessing the same mistakes play out in the COVID-19 response. Over 75% of the global vaccinations that have been administered have taken place in just 10 countries. Meanwhile around 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, have yet to administer a single dose.”

In the UK, 74% of heterosexuals diagnosed with HIV are from minority ethnic communities and they are much more likely to be diagnosed late.

The racism word

Dr Halima Begum, CEO of the UK’s race equality think tank, The Runnymede Trust, joined me in conversation for NAM aidsmap’s podcast series, Tell Me About It, to discuss health inequities in COVID-19 and HIV. She highlighted how structural racism fuels health inequalities. “We have done a lot of research on health inequalities and have known about it for quite some time. The onset of COVID-19 is really making us ask the harder questions. People of colour are experiencing different rates of access and experience the health system in a very different way. A lot of it has to do with our race. 

“The racism word is not so scary once you start saying it, because once you start saying it, you can fix it.”