HIV and Covid are not the same: a quick guide to understanding it once and for all

HIV and Covid are not the same. Nor are the historical responses. Today we can take action and do everything possible for both viruses.

December 1, 2020

Illustrations: Patricio Oliver

Text: Lucas Gutiérrez

For some months now we have seen how the media and specialists from different areas continue to compare and equate HIV and AIDS with Covid-19.

This quick guide explains the differences, why making such a comparison is misleading and stigmatizing, and how to avoid these mistakes to build unbiased communication.

While the coronavirus is contagious, HIV is transmitted. It's important to make this distinction because viruses that are contagious can live much longer outside the body. COVID-19 can be transmitted through a cough or by sharing mate, but HIV cannot.

Historically, the differences are also enormous. When AIDS and then HIV emerged, the global response was nothing like the current response to Covid-19. Many years, stigmas, prejudices, and deaths had to pass before states and society took action in the face of the devastation caused by AIDS and HIV.

We continue to follow with hope the work of those developing vaccines for Covid. However, regarding HIV and AIDS, the path to a cure is not so clear. The search for a solution has not been, and is not, the same. And while there has been progress, and we now know that an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load does not transmit the virus during sexual intercourse, this is not a cure.

Talking about HIV as if it were a thing of the past is a mistake and irresponsible. According to UNAIDS global figures, there were 1.7 million new cases and 690,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in 2019. The number of people living with HIV is 38 million.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened access to healthcare for people living with HIV worldwide and has reduced the availability of new tests. In a recent message , UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima warned that the challenges posed by the new virus could lead to an increase in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in the future.

HIV and Covid are not the same, nor were the historical responses, now we can take action and do everything possible for both viruses.

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