Whilst significant progress has been achieved in combating HIV/AIDS since the 1980s, there must be “no complacency or dropping back” on the disease, Foyle MP Mark Durkan has said.
Speaking during this week’s Westminster Hall debate on HIV/AIDS – when MPs also remembered the life of Nelson Mandela who campaigned to stem the tide of the disease in South Africa – Mr Durkan said AIDS was not only a serious disease that confounded everybody when awareness of it emerged in the 1980s, but was an issue that challenged everone today at so many levels of “policy and delivery.”
The SDLP MP added: “It challenges not only politicians, political systems, governmental processes and public services, but the private sector too – not least pharmaceutical companies and others.
“It is important, as we mark the progress made at a number of levels in understanding and getting to grips with the problem, that we acknowledge that a number of huge challenges are still present.
“We cannot let the significant progress that has confounded the worries and expectations of many years ago – there was almost a sense that it was impossible to counter the disease, and futile to try – to lead to any sense of complacency. Progress will not move along on the wheels of inevitability.
“We should not assume that the momentum that is to be celebrated will be sufficient to take all else in its path; nor should we neglect the fact that some of the choices that can be made now and in the coming years could compromise some of that progress.
“I recall that when I visited Malawi a number of years ago (in 2003 with Derry-based charity Children in Crossfire), a politician – the then Vice-President – was trying to talk about AIDS. He had broken a taboo, even by using the euphemism ‘the disease of the mattress.’
“He had to talk in very coded terms, but even that brought its own serious and adverse reaction. We have to support those who are trying to tackle the problem in those countries. We will not do that by saying, ‘Right, we have created enough momentum. That will look after itself.’
“Closer to home, Norman Fowler – now Lord Fowler – provided great leadership (in the 1980s and 90s) at government level.
“It is right that we recognise the quality of leadership that was shown here back then, but no less a quality of leadership is needed now as we face big issues and challenges.
“We need to address the questions that arise concerning the UN Special Assembly in 2016. There is the danger of complacency, and that mistakes might be made that will set back some of the work and progress that has been achieved.
“On World AIDS Day last week, the Terrence Higgins Trust said that it is now providing advice and support to pensioners who are living with HIV/AIDS—something it never thought it would have to do.”
Mr Durkan concluded: “That is a mark of the progress that has been made. We need to celebrate that, but we also need to commit to ensuring that there will be no dropping back.”
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