Almost as if they have learnt nothing from one of Earth’s most tragic events — the COVID-19 pandemic — the rich nations have again begun to look inwardly, ignoring the plight of the poor and the potential boomerang effect of a deadly disease.

We hope that the panic-stricken call last week by more than 300 politicians, health experts, and celebrities will be heard by American pharmaceutical giant Gilead to allow its new HIV drug to reach developing countries most affected by the disease.

Two-thirds of the 39 million people living with HIV were in Africa in 2022, according to the World Health Organization.

One can’t be faulted for wondering whether it is by accident or design that only the nations of North America and Europe have access to this new antiretroviral drug, Lenacapavir, which is said to have the ability to end HIV as a public threat by 2023.

French wire service, Agence France Presse (AFP), reported that a range of former world leaders, AIDS groups, activists, actors, and others had written to Gilead’s CEO, Mr Daniel O’Day, urging that the company produces generic versions of Lenacapavir that will allow poor sufferers of HIV to afford it.

Lenacapavir, which was approved for use in the United States and the European Union in 2022, only needs to be injected twice a year, making it particularly suited for people normally “excluded from high quality health care,” the open letter said.

“We urge Gilead to ensure that people in the Global South living with or at risk of HIV can access this groundbreaking medicine at the same time as people in the Global North can,” it said.

This could be achieved if Gilead licences the drug on the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism that would allow for the cheaper generic versions to be manufactured.

Gilead’s response, according to AFP, is that it is in talks with governments and organisations about how to expand access to the drug. This nonchalant attitude to a dangerous situation is entirely unacceptable.

AFP quoted the letter as saying: “The world now recalls with horror and shame that it took 10 years and 12 million lives lost before generic versions of the first antiretroviral drugs became available worldwide. This innovation could help end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 — but only if all who would benefit from it can access it.”

Lenacapavir, sold under the brand name Sunlenca, has been shown to reduce “viral load in patients with infections that are resistant to other treatments”, according to the European Medicines Agency.

Because it requires just two shots a year, the drug could be particularly important for those who face stigma getting treated for HIV, including young women, LGBTQ people, sex workers, and people who inject drugs, the letter said.

It is noteworthy that one of the signatories is Francoise Barre-Sinoussi — the French scientist who co-discovered the HIV virus. She lamented that “inequality, not science, is the greatest barrier to fighting AIDS”.

“I implore Gilead to erase much of that inequality and make a monumental step towards ending the AIDS pandemic,” she was reported as saying.

It is not rocket science that as long as HIV is rampant in any part of the world, nowhere else can be considered safe. We should have learnt this from COVID-19.