My understanding of the term pandemic when referring to diseases like HIV and COVID-19 is that it signifies a global outbreak of a disease that affects a large number of people across multiple countries or continents. A pandemic occurs when a new infectious disease spreads rapidly, infecting a significant portion of the population and causing widespread illness and, in some cases, death.
In the case of HIV, it is considered a pandemic as it has affected millions of people worldwide since its discovery in the 1980s. HIV has led to significant public health challenges and has resulted in a high number of infections and deaths globally.
Similarly, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. COVID-19 rapidly spread to virtually all countries, causing significant health and socio-economic impacts worldwide.
Both HIV and COVID-19 have had far-reaching consequences on public health, healthcare systems, economies, and societies, making them prominent examples of pandemics in modern history.
I hope this helped!
~~~Harsha~~~