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Illustration: Maia Debowicz 

Activists and organizations in Argentina, with the support of legislators, are presenting a bill today in the National Congress to create a Day of Visibility for the Rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS, to be observed every August 12th , in commemoration of the birth of Roberto Jáuregui . An activist, journalist, and actor, Jáuregui was the first person in the country to publicly disclose his HIV status.

“We want to recognize the work of Roberto Jáuregui, who was the first to make his voice heard in order to receive his medication. At that time, it wasn't accessible to everyone. And from there, he forged a united front with different people from different sectors to make visible the need to exercise our rights, especially our right to health. We want to honor his activism and his visibility,” Matías Muñoz, president of Asociación Ciclo Positivo , one of the organizations behind the project, explained to Presentes.

Who was Roberto Jáuregui?

Roberto Jáuregui was born on August 12, 1960. Brother of fellow activist Carlos Jáuregui, he was a staunch advocate for the rights of people living with HIV. In the late 1980s, the price of medication made it virtually impossible to access, so Roberto frequently appeared on television programs to highlight this urgent need.

In 1988, Federico Moura and Miguel Abuelo had passed away. The following year, Roberto Jáuregui publicly announced his HIV status. 1989 was also the year the Huésped Foundation was founded. There, Roberto joined Dr. Pedro Cahn, working tirelessly as general coordinator.

Those were years when prejudice coexisted with a lack of information and laws to support people who were HIV-positive. A hug wasn't a minor gesture; it was a political statement. That's why it was so significant when, during prime time on the program Hora Clave, journalist Mariano Grondona and Roberto embraced. It was a time when people were trying to explain that neither a hug nor a kiss transmitted the virus.

For years, Roberto played a central role in marches, actions, talks, and interviews demanding human rights for people living with HIV. He even acted in the telenovela Celeste, starring Andrea del Boca, playing himself in an interview about HIV and AIDS.

He died on January 13, 1994. The Huésped Foundation created the Roberto Jáuregui Day Hospital at the Dr. Juan A. Fernández General Hospital in Buenos Aires as another way to remember him and respond to his struggle.

The bill, which seeks to honor Roberto and declare his birthday as HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, also proposes that the Ministry of Education incorporate curricular content on the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS into all levels of formal education. The initiative is being promoted by Representative Gisela Marziotta (Frente de Todos), with the support of Representatives Leonardo Grosso, Pablo Raúl Yedlin, Ana Carla Carrizo, and others. “It also aims to update the training of all healthcare teams—medical staff, other services, and administrative personnel—in the lead-up to this date, so they can better protect the rights of people living with HIV,” says Matías Muñoz.

In the last epidemiological bulletin published in 2019, the now Ministry of Health estimated that approximately 139,000 people live with HIV in the country, of whom 17% are unaware of their diagnosis .

There is a shortage of reagents in some provinces

Sergio Ramírez, an activist and member of the Argentine Network of Positive Youth ( RAJAP ), has denounced on social media the lack of reagents in Mendoza for viral load and CD4 count tests for people living with HIV. Mendoza and Córdoba are among the provinces reporting this shortage.

On July 23, organizations held meetings with the Undersecretary of Health Strategies, Alejandro Costa, and with the Director of the HIV Response Directorate. The Ciclo Positivo Association also reported shortages, submitting a report detailing the issues . Authorities shared the status of pending purchases and pledged to respond as soon as possible.

“Historically, the response to HIV has been almost entirely biomedical. We need society to understand that the virus isn't floating in the air, but that it affects people who feel, dream, work, and so on. We want to live without being stigmatized or singled out because of our HIV status ,” says Sergio Ramírez.

They demand a law that is in keeping with the times

This August 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Argentina's National AIDS Law. It's not an anniversary to celebrate, but rather a reminder that in recent years, all the projects proposed by activists for a law in line with current times have lost their parliamentary status, as they have not been addressed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Regarding the HIV law, Matías Muñoz adds: “We hope that this bill, which arose spontaneously from organizations and seeks the support of several blocs in the Chamber of Deputies, will also serve to advance the legislative consensus needed for a new law on HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and STIs that once and for all incorporates a human rights approach in the response to HIV and other STIs in our country .”