NAPS records progress in AIDS fight

Mar 25, 2010 News

Twenty-three years after the first AIDS case in Guyana the country is reporting progress to the point of reversing the tide of the epidemic, head of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr Shanti Singh, has said.
In preventing new infections, prophylaxis is provided to pregnant women and has resulted in the reduction mother-to-child-transmission from 16 percent in 2005 to 3.8 percent in 2008, she said at the launch of a groundbreaking HIV prevention document.
The HIV prevalence among the antenatal population has decreased from 3.1 per cent in 2003 to 1.1 per cent at the end of 2009 and the HIV Prevalence among blood donors has declined steadily from 0.9 percent in 2005 to 0.16 percent in 2009.
Dr Singh also pointed to encouraging signs with regard to reducing the HIV prevalence among most-at-risk populations, particularly female sex workers among whom HIV prevalence declined from 26.6 percent in 2005 to 16.6 percent in 2009 and also among men who have sex with men, from 21.2 percent in 2005 to 19.4 percent in 2009.
In addition, more people are now on treatment. In 2009, there were 2,832 persons actively receiving antiretroviral therapy, accounting for close to 85 per cent of persons who are eligible for and are receiving antiretroviral therapy.
This represents more than a 100 per cent increase from 2005 when a total of 942 persons were on treatment accounting for a little over 40 percent of persons who are eligible for and receiving antiretroviral therapy.
The number of TB-HIV co-infected persons has declined from over 30.0 percent in 2005 to just over 20 per cent in 2009.
Whilst acknowledging the importance of the success of the treatment programme, Dr Singh cited the need for continuing vigilance.
“It is of outmost importance that our patients continue to receive uninterrupted high quality regimen of antiretroviral therapy…that we continue to treat earlier rather than later…that we continue to strengthen our diagnostic capabilities to better manage opportunistic infection.
“Only this…will ensure viral suppression key, to the reduction of HIV Transmission. I urge us therefore- Let us see our treatment programme as an investment in prevention,” she stated.
As the world moves from responding to HIV as an emergency, to addressing issues in a more quality assured manner and to now a sector wide approach through health systems strengthening, the issue of sustainability is key Dr Singh posited.
She stated that the current global economic difficulties combined with the emergence of new global agendas such as climate change and natural disasters and the emergence in many places of AIDS fatigue has resulted in the expected shift in priorities.
“With this shift, funding reallocation is natural. It is therefore critical at this time more than ever that concrete measures be taken to ensure sustainability of our programmes,” she stated.
As a result, Dr Singh said that the introduction of the HIV prevention principles, standards and guidelines will see Guyana getting more value for dollar spent.
“We will benefit in this regard as we will be required to scale up on the use of more concrete evidence, to reduce that disconnect between the science and the interventions and to rely less on the use “anectedotal evidence” in defining our prevention efforts, making them more targeted and impactful,” she stated.
Dr Singh said that the national prevention principle, standards and guidelines would facilitate the reduction in duplication in prevention efforts and through the National Prevention Reference Group would guide the reallocation of financial, human, as well as technical resources to address the unmet needs.
She said the guidelines seek to ensure at a minimum that the prevention services provided to all is standardized, “that irrespective of whether someone lives in remote community of Gunn Strip, Region Nine or in Mahaicony on the coastland that the prevention services are at the minimum defined standard.”

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