Winnie Byanyima
Executive Director of UNAIDS
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
It has been more than half a century since the United Nations proclaimed the 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On that day in 1960 police opened fire on a crowd of peaceful protesters standing up and speaking out against apartheid in South Africa. Dozens were killed that day. It took a further 30-year bitter battle for apartheid legislation to be repealed, during which time millions of black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods. The world said never again…
Yet today racism continues to thrive, deepening inequalities, fracturing societies and denying people their basic human rights, including their right to health.
Racism is a public health and human rights issue of global concern. It is recognised that racism is a key determinant of disease and defines who has access to life-saving prevention, treatment, quality health care and overall well-being.
The large racial and ethnic disparities in access to HIV services are evident. Although black Africans account for the vast majority of the population in South Africa and for the large majority of people living with HIV, the public sector services on which black South Africans rely are typically of poorer quality than the private sector services available to white South Africans. In the United States of America, African American people account for 12% of the national population but for 41% of new HIV diagnoses and AIDS-related deaths. To end AIDS it is imperative to close the inequalities that drive it and that includes addressing racial inequalities.
History should have taught us all the most appalling life-costing consequences of racism and inequity, yet racism remains rife across countries and within countries. The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing vaccine apartheid is a stark reminder of this and has cost each one of us the quickest and least harmful exit route from the crisis.
Failure to tackle racism will continue to cost millions of lives and livelihoods around the world; to stall progress on tackling poverty; to block development efforts and threaten global public health and economic security. Because, make no mistake, the costs of inequality are not confined to those living in the poorest countries.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. On the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination we must chart a new path to secure the rights of all people in all nations and raise our voices for action against racism.
UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations-UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank-and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org
