HIV/AIDS fight gaining more support – Health Minister

Oct 08, 2010 News

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The fight against HIV/AIDS will not be won if all citizens are not engaged actively in spreading and receiving the necessary message intended to encourage persons to take the relevant action to protect themselves and their families.
This assertion was made recently by Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who disclosed that it is imperative that persons who are living with HIV/AIDS be supported. According to the minister, the Guyana Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS has played a leading role in engaging the private sector in this regard. And the recently launched supermarket initiative, he said, is another example of how the coalition is being expanded with active participation.
“We have to meet people wherever they are and every Guyanese family must go to certain places…and the supermarket is one place where every Guyanese must find themselves. This is part of the rationale to bring the supermarket onboard, to become a platform for spreading the message and to get people to become more involved.”
The Supermarket Initiative which will see participation from 10 local supermarkets was born out of the necessity to ensure that prevention is accessible to all, thereby conforming to universal access and by ensuring that efforts are built on a pillar of sustainability.
The initiative, according to Head of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr Shanti Singh, has many objectives and is aligned with the priority area two of the Guyana HIV Strategy, of reducing risk and vulnerability to HIV infection.
“This initiative has the potential to reach close to 1,000 employees at the 10 supermarkets and their families. Importantly it has the potential to reach close to 2,000 persons on a daily basis,” Dr Singh had noted.  She explained that the arrangements that have been put in place with the supermarkets will enable regular monitoring of the initiative. And there are plans, she revealed, to expand the venture – to widen the reach outside of Central Georgetown and even beyond Region Four.
It is the conviction of Minister Ramsammy that the more people that are active, the better will be the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“Today we are a little better off because our citizens as individuals, our citizens as groups and our citizens as institutions have not been timid. We have been becoming bolder and bolder by the day and our citizens are becoming convinced that we cannot be on the sidelines.”
The Minister stated that he welcomes the inclusion of supermarkets to help in the continued fight against HIV/AIDS – joining the efforts of the national team. With the increased support being offered, he asserted, those on the sidelines are becoming fewer, which is evident by the trend that has been created where everyone wants to become part of the team.
Dr. Ramsammy recounted that in the early 1990s there were merely a few persons that were involved in the fight. And this was the case, he speculated, because persons thought that once they became involved in HIV-related activities they would by extension become stigmatised as people who are HIV-positive.
For this reason, he said, in the past many persons had opted to stay away.
“There always needs to be a starting point. I think the few of us that were there then can look back on this journey and say what a journey; we have really made an impact. We have made such an impact that people are excited about joining the team today. We must take advantage of that enthusiasm and make sure that those who are on the team are yet on the team; and those who are still on the sideline are no longer there.”
The ultimate aim, according to the Minister, is to ensure that “HIV will not defeat us. In 1992 there was gloom and doom, in 1993 there was still gloom and doom. In 1993 the few of us that were a part of this team had even begun to question ourselves…but we persevered.”
But even with the added support now forthcoming in the fight against HIV, the Minister urged that the few who have remained committed over the years must now look back with pride that it was their effort that now sees Guyana making significant strides.
The collaboration with supermarkets, Minister Ramsammy stressed, is not by any means a HIV initiative but rather one to promote health. He asserted that HIV is in fact a chronic disease that has had a dire impact on populations. He boasted that Guyana has over the years done a tremendous job in highlighting the fact that HIV is a chronic disease, but had recently accentuated his disappointment that the United Nations had not recognised chronic diseases as a major threat to the reduction of poverty and development.
He disclosed that while the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) recognise some diseases, the chronic diseases are left out. However, he applauded the efforts of UNAIDS which is currently seeking to remedy this omission by allowing countries to include in their review the challenges faced by nations because of chronic diseases.
As such, from next year there will be a summit on the chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, among others.

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