[READ ALSO: “People living with HIV are experiencing a national emergency” ] The assembly will also be another opportunity to bring renewed attention to the fight for a new HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and STI Law, which was in Congress last year but was never debated and subsequently lost its parliamentary status. “There is still much to be done, and this government has shown that if we are not present, they will continue to ignore us and jeopardize our health.”

“This is another battle won”

Following the official statement, Matías Muñoz, coordinator of the Argentine Network of Adolescents and Young Adults Living with HIV, also published a statement titled “Health in a State of Alert.” In it, he questioned the “delays in acquisition” and the “usual delays in budget allocation.” In addition to reiterating his call for Friday's mobilization, he emphasized that this situation can be avoided with “strong, well-organized groups capable of mobilizing people and garnering public support.” Muñoz explained that in Argentina, the National AIDS Law (23.798) mandates that the national government cover the costs of treatment, a provision upheld by the Benghalensis ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (2000). “Since then, and until 2016, there had been no reports of shortages of this magnitude (five drugs and delegation of purchasing) that affect the stability and continuity of treatment for chronic infection. Today, as in that political and economic crisis at the beginning of the last decade, we are forced to take to the streets again.”