Breaking the Disruption Cycle in HIV Interventions in Africa and the Global South - Ensuring Continuity in All Circumstances
AFRIHEALTH OPTONET
ASSOCIATION (AHOA)
2025 World
AIDS Day Civil Society Symposium
25 November 2025
TOPIC:
Breaking the Disruption Cycle
in HIV Interventions in Africa and the Global South - Ensuring Continuity in
All Circumstances
OPENING STATEMENT BY:
Dr. Uzodinma Adirieje
CEO/PR, Afrihealth Optonet
Association (AHOA)
President, African Network of Civil Society Organizations (ANCSO)
Distinguished colleagues,
partners, leaders, and change agents across the world—
On behalf of the entire
leadership and member organizations of Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA), I
welcome you to this special event.
Today, as we commemorate the
2025 World AIDS Day, we gather under a moral and strategic imperative: to
break, decisively and permanently, the persistent cycle of disruptions that
continue to undermine HIV responses in Africa and the Global South. These disruptions—whether
driven by conflict, pandemics, economic instability, political transitions,
humanitarian crises, or environmental shocks—do not merely stall progress; they
reverse hard-won gains, deepen inequities, and erode the resilience of already vulnerable
populations.
For over four decades, the
world has fought HIV with science, solidarity, and social justice. Yet millions
still face barriers to prevention, testing, treatment, and continuity of
care—barriers that are magnified whenever crises emerge. In Africa and the
Global South, service interruptions are often predictable, recurring, and
avoidable. They occur when health systems are weak, when communities are
excluded from decision-making, and when investments in resilience remain
insufficient.
The theme of this year’s
reflection is therefore a call to action: we must build HIV programmes that do
not collapse in the face of adversity but that anticipate, absorb, adapt, and
accelerate through every circumstance. Continuity of care must no longer be an
aspiration; it must be engineered into policies, budgets, innovations, and
community systems.
At Afrihealth Optonet
Association, we recognize that sustainable HIV responses require multisectoral
collaboration—linking health, climate, nutrition, gender, human rights, and
development. We champion a people-centered model that places communities at the
heart of resilience. Community-led monitoring, youth networks, women’s groups,
and local civil society actors must be empowered not as beneficiaries but as
co-architects of the response. Their leadership is the strongest insurance
against service disruptions.
We must also expand digital
health, decentralized care, differentiated service delivery, and integrated
primary healthcare platforms. These innovations reduce reliance on fragile
systems and enable continuity in emergencies. Furthermore, financing for HIV
must prioritize stability—through domestic resource mobilization,
risk-sensitive budgeting, and long-term partnerships that do not vanish when
crises strike.
As we reflect today, let us
recommit to an Africa and a Global South where no emergency, no conflict, no
pandemic, and no socioeconomic shock can interrupt HIV prevention, treatment,
or support. Let us build systems that protect people, not just programmes;
solutions that endure, not just interventions that react.
Together, we can end the
disruption cycle—and move closer to a world where AIDS is no longer a threat to
health, dignity, or development.
Thank you.
Global Health and
Dev’t Projects Consultant | Conferences Organizer | Trainer| Facilitator |
Researcher | M&E Expert | Civil Society Leader | Policy Advocate
CEO & Perm. Rep., Afrihealth Optonet
Association (AHOA) – CSOs global Network & Think-tank
📞 🟢
+2348034725905 / ✉️afrepton@gmail.com / ceo@afrihealthcsos.org /
🌐
https://www.afrihealthcsos.org, https://druzodinmadirieje.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: https://ng.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Dr.+Uzodinma/Adirieje
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