The mission of Unaided is simple: we advocate aid for unmedicated people in Africa living with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Unaided is a joint project by two first year medical students at the University of Western Australia, Massimo Berneri and Harry D’Souza.  We’re passionate about increasing access to HIV/AIDS antiretroviral (ARV) medications in developing nations. Access to ARVs is particularly low in sub-Saharan African nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Despite such sub-Saharan nations collectively representing only 5% of the world population, over 50% of the worldwide HIV-infected individuals reside here and over 60% of worldwide AIDS-related deaths happen in these regions¹. This high death toll is due to low access to medications throughout Africa. Indeed, only 11% of people in North-Africa have access to ARV medications, with these numbers increasing to 21% and 41% in Western/Central and Eastern/Southern Africa respectively². It is the aim of Unaided to advocate against this huge discrepancy in access to life-saving medications.

Those living with HIV/AIDS go without access to medication for a number of reasons on individual, community and global levels. These barriers to access include profiteering by pharmaceutical companies, stigma around treatment, and religious or cultural problems with accessing treatment. Unaided delves into the darker side of these issues. Join us as we learn how to improve medication access for those most in need, improving the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, and worldwide.

Disclaimer

Unaided.org has been produced for educational purposes only. The authors do not claim ownership of any of the images, videos, figures or info-graphics used within unaided.org.

References

1. (UNAIDS) UNPoHA. Global Report 2013 [cited 10/4/2016]. Available from: http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/UNAIDS_Global_Report_2013_en_1.pdf
2. Avert. HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Overview [Internet]. 2015 [updated 01/05/2015; cited 2016 28/3]. Available from: http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/overview