HIV counselling and testing activities grow by over 21,000 last year

Mar 07, 2010 News

The local fight against the dreaded HIV/AIDS virus has not been a simple task but with the commitment on the part of local health workers, the Government of Guyana and support and funding from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), massive headways have been made over the years.

Over the period 2008-2009 alone, the Ministry of Health, through the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) has been able to strengthen all major programme areas and expansion of prevention services particularly to vulnerable populations.

Prevention efforts have been significantly scaled-up and intensified with the full collaboration and commitment of all key stakeholders during the last six years, according to NAPS Programme Manager, Dr Shanti Singh.

She revealed that Behavioural Change Communication (BCC) campaigns have been strengthened and expanded during 2008 and 2009 to target vulnerable populations and promote community involvement in prevention, treatment and care support.

Accordingly, she noted that Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programmes have expanded to increase access and geographic coverage. “The period under review saw an increase from 62 sites in 2008 to 70 sites in 2009 compared to 44 sites in 2007 and 27 sites in 2005.

Nine of the 10 administrative regions now have fixed sites while Region Eight is served by one of the two mobile teams that deliver services to hinterland locations thereby ensuring national coverage.”

As a result of these efforts, a total of 63,876 persons (37,028 females and 26, 848 males) received counselling and were tested in 2008. However, there was an outstanding increase last year in this regard with some 85,554 persons (48,042 females and 37,512 males) being counselled and tested.

The local health sector’s effort was further boosted as substantial work was completed to ensure safe injections and minimise the risk of needle stick injuries. This move, Singh said, saw great emphasis being placed on the training of health care workers, procurement of safe injection commodities and the facilitation of access to safe disposal options.

Moreover, the training of over 700 health care workers during 2008 and 2009 has resulted in a 95 percent national coverage.

A National Policy on HIV/AIDS was first approved by Parliament in 1998 but was subsequently revised in 2003 to reflect changes within NAPS and to demonstrate a policy of universal access to prevention, treatment and care.

Additional policy provisions, such as those prohibiting stigma and discrimination when applying for social benefits and universal access to VCTs and Prevention of mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) programmes, have also been integrated into the most recent revision of the National Policy during 2006.

It was against this background that the National Workplace HIV and AIDS Policy was launched about one year ago and has since been promoted as the minimum standard for the development of HIV and AIDS workplace policies.

And as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS it was recognised that an adequate and safe blood supply was a crucial element which should be included in a national strategy to control HIV. It was for this reason that a National Blood Policy was developed and approved. A final draft of the Blood Transfusion Legislation has since been developed.

Additionally, a draft Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Policy was prepared and approved by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security.

And to further help to reduce stigma and discrimination a draft HIV legislation was developed and is currently being finalised by the Attorney General’s Chambers for tabling in Parliament.

The draft legislation, according to Dr Singh, addresses a range of issues including the protection of Persons Living with HIV from discrimination.

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HIV counselling and testing activities grow by over 21,000 last year

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