On Friday December 1, Rwanda joined the global community to commemorate World AIDS Day for the 35 time. Initiated by the World Health Organisation, the day was dedicated to shine a light on the real experiences of people living with HIV. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the strength, resilience and diversity of the communities most affected by HIV that for the last 40 years claims hundreds of millions in the word, mostly in Africa. ALSO READ: After hitting global target, Rwanda sets eyes on achieving 100% HIV treatment This year, the global theme will be ‘Let Communities Lead” and it will celebrate communities living with and affected by HIV, networks of people from key populations and youth leaders have been, and continue to be, essential for progress in the HIV response, according to the UN. These people provide essential prevention, testing and treatment support services, build trust, generate innovative solutions, promote health, monitor the implementation of policies and programmes, and hold providers accountable. In Rwanda, the national theme chosen was ‘Every Voice Counts’ echoing the role of everyone in the fight against AIDS, which the country has carried with seriousness and is evidenced in the available results. For instance, the country has already achieved the global target set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which is dubbed 95-95-95, way ahead of time. The unforeseen consequence of this is that now, the different development partners are looking at redirecting resources that were allocated towards fighting HIV/AIDS in Rwanda to other countries that are in much dire need. ALSO READ: Are efforts for HIV prevention waning? While this is a good problem to have, it still calls for concerted efforts, and full participation of Rwandans to not only sustain these gains that have been registered towards fighting this disease, but also achieving even more, to ensure it is confined to history. It is therefore not a moment to celebrate but rather strategise on how we can sustain this fight using our own resources and not suffer any setback. ALSO READ: Rwanda should consider manufacturing ARVs — expert Fortunately, as history has proven, Rwandans tend to work and deliver more when under pressure, especially when it comes to relying on external resources. The best way to do it is to make sure every citizen owns the process and not leave it to the government. The private sector will play a key role and they have every incentive to do this. A healthy workforce will give you much more output. Therefore, they should not wait for any call up. It is a fight they must own. The silver lining to this is that once the fight is owned by everyone, then sustainability is guaranteed and within no time, even 100 per cent will be achieved.
