It ’ s paramount to empower communities at risk of or living with HIV to come forward to get tested .
1��0s . In a lot of peoples ’ minds , HI� prevention and treatment has not really advanced from that time , � he said .
Dr Iskandar cites discriminatory policies in the corporate sector that still require Malaysian workers to be tested for HIV as part of their employment screening . These rules can prevent those who test positive from being employed and are based on past prejudices . But he adds that spreading awareness about HIV among policymakers has led to some improvements . �Sometimes it ’ s not their fault , the message hasn ’ t reached them , but once they get to know about it , they are more receptive to changing policies and making them less discriminatory . �
One good example of positive change is the set of guidelines put out by the Malaysian Medical Council that allow HIV positive healthcare professionals on treatment with suppressed HIV viral loads to continue to work , including surgeons .
Another advancement in HI� treatment many people may be unaware of has been the introduction of injectable HIV medication that can be administered every two months to replace the standard regimen of daily pills . Dr Iskandar says this is a significant advancement as it can make treatment more acceptable , particularly for those with adherence challenges since taking pills every day “ can be sometimes a daily reminder to people that they have HI� and this impacts on their mental health and wellbeing . � The injectable medicines are also likely to increase treatment compliance because taking daily pills for life requires a degree of discipline that may be hard to maintain .
All of this progress is part of the evolution in medicine towards HIV elimination , a process unleashed by scientific advancements and the full power of prevention , testing , and treatment . Dr Iskandar sums up the situation this way :
�Despite not having a vaccine or a cure at this stage , we have such good HIV prevention and treatment medication that you can virtually eliminate HIV by scaling up public health initiatives that facilitate diagnosing and treating people with HIV as early as possible , maintaining them on treatment and keeping them virally suppressed , and this is shown by cities like San Francisco and the state of New South Wales in Australia , which have such good public health initiatives that they are on the way to eliminating HI� . We also can eliminate HI�� we just need to scale up all the available tools we have at the moment . � n
GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com ISSUE 6 | 2023
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