When MSF teams opened the very first outpatient HIV free treatment centre in Kinshasa in 2002, the situation in the capital city - and in the Democratic Republic of Congo - was particularly critical.
At that time, it was estimated that more than one million men, women and children were living with HIV in the country while antiretroviral treatment (ART) was scarce and totally unaffordable. The virus was killing between 50,000 and 200,000 people every year in the DRC, according to UNAIDS.
Since then, MSF teams have been at the forefront of a constant fight to make HIV treatment and care available for all in thenDRC, bringing in innovative approaches and influencing medical protocols; supporting patients’ support groups ; reinforcing HIV services in over 30 health facilities in Kinshasa; opening the only, state-of-the art free advanced HIV care unit; documenting gaps, speaking out and pushing big donors to do more to support patients.
The situation today is far from the one our teams faced in 2002. Access to free ART treatment is now in place, mortality and new infections dramatically went down. Through expertise and activism, MSF played a key role in the realization of those successes.
Yet, this anniversary is in many ways bitter for MSF and patients as massive problems remain in DRC to win the fight against HIV/AIDS: lack of access to HIV testing, lack of access to vital services such as viral load analysis, gaps in ART availability, worrying trends in mother-to-child HIV transmission, suboptimal medical training in many facilities… and a clear lack of funding to meet the real HIV needs in the country.
As doctors, as humanitarians, it is our duty to not be satisfied by the current situation. Nearly 14,000 people died of the disease in 2021. Many of those deaths were clearly avoidable. For MSF, the fight goes on.