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“The groups of people most affected by COVID-19 and the groups affected by HIV are slightly different, but the bottom line is that inequalities have exacerbated both pandemics, and I think a lot can be learned from them,” says Adeeba Kamarulzaman, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and president of the International AIDS Society.

After studying medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Professor Kamarulzaman returned home to Malaysia to specialize in infectious diseases. Since then, her main focus has been on the treatment and prevention of HIV. More recently, she has taken a leading role in her institution and nationally in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a plenary session at WCN’22, Professor Kamarulzaman will discuss lessons learned from these two pandemics.

She says: “In terms of the response to HIV, when we look to nations that have been successful, we find countries where there has been collaboration between policymakers, researchers, and community organizations. Combined with financial investment, this collaboration is a key element.

“With COVID-19, we have also seen that involving civil society is very important. For example, in the early phase of the pandemic, countries like Bhutan, Rwanda, and Vietnam were successful because they mobilized the community to educate and create awareness on isolation and contact tracing.”

Professor Kamarulzaman will talk about the role of patients and the public in HIV research and treatment programs, and how they can also help in the field of nephrology. “I think those working to treat chronic disease are learning the importance of this, for example, in empowering end-stage renal patients requiring dialysis to take ownership of their health.”

In her plenary session, Professor Kamarulzaman will discuss how scientific progress in HIV and cancer built a platform for rapid developments in COVID-19 research. “This accelerated the discovery of the COVID-19 vaccines that have helped us begin to get ahead of the pandemic,” she adds.

Professor Kamarulzaman will share insights on how Malaysia coped during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have a healthcare system that is available to anyone, and we had a policy of making vaccines available free of charge for all. However, we were not as inclusive as we should have been. In particular, we have migrant workers and refugees who were hesitant to come forward for fear that they might get arrested.

“Our healthcare system was overwhelmed when the Delta variant hit our shores. However, following a mass scale-up of the vaccination program, we’ve seen a downward trend in cases. GPs and NGOs educated the community and performed outreach to indigenous people in Borneo and Peninsula Malaysia. NGOs have visited people in nursing homes and people who are bedbound in private homes.”

Finally, she will explain that there is still much to do in both COVID-19 and HIV: “With HIV, we have the tools to treat and prevent the infection, the challenge is how to scale up, and for that, we need money and political will.

“Our mantra for both HIV and COVID-19 should be the same: know the epidemic, know the response. If we understand the disease and know what factors put people at risk, we can develop and use the right vaccines and treatments. This is true for kidney disease too: invest in science to understand, diagnose, and treat the disease. Once you have the tools, you just need to know how to apply them at scale.”

Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman: “Lessons Learnt From Two Pandemics”, Plenary Session, Saturday 26 February, 18:00-19:00 hrs Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) time: https://cm.theisn.org/cmPortal/searchable/WCN2022/config/normal#!sessiondetails/0000015730_0