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Fourth Country Progress Report on HIV drafted

Mar 21, 2012 News

By Latoya Giles

Key stakeholders were yesterday provided with a synopsis of the Fourth Draft on the Country Progress Report on HIV. Dr Shanti Singh, Programme Director for the National AIDS Program Secretariat (NAPS) made the presentation.
It was with the adopting of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS that member states obligated themselves to regularly report on their progress to the UN General Assembly.
The UN Secretary-General charged the UNAIDS Secretariat with the responsibility for developing the reporting process, accepting reports from member States on his behalf, and preparing a regular report for the General Assembly. Member States are required to submit Country Progress reports to the UNAIDS Secretariat every two years.
Dr. Singh told Kaieteur News yesterday that they received a notification last year from the UN saying that they needed to have the report ready by March 2012.  She said they embarked on a country team which helped put the report together. It was explained that the report has two sections; one deals with the actual response and the second gauges people’s response.
The NAPS Director said that based on information from interviews which were done with a wide cross section of persons, including politicians and persons infected with HIV, the report was compiled. She noted that they expressed their opinions in some key areas. It was explained that persons were asked about political commitment on HIV, as well as where the country is on care and support, prevention, monitoring and evaluation. Dr.Singh said that all of those findings were placed into a response in terms of “where our stakeholders feel we are with the response”.
Further she stated that there were seven targets that were set by the high level UN meeting which have to be reached by 2015. As it is right now, Dr. Singh explained, they are reporting on six of the targets.  The seventh target deals with injecting drug use, however, she said that has not been a real issue for the programme, so they have not gathered information in that regard.
The director opined out that one of the most outstanding things in the report is the political commitment. She further noted that major work has been done in the aspect of prevention, and opined that one part of the report would “look to see how we can improve and rethink prevention and make the programme robust and dynamic”.
Moreover the director noted that they are witnessing more progress in the survival rates and will continue to work in the treatment area. She said that they will continue to have discussions about third line therapy and what it means for the programme and country.
Dr.Singh emphasised that the programme is fortunate to have a fully staffed M & E (Monitoring and Evaluation) unit. It was explained that persons are there to help with the data analysis, and it is quite evident in this report.
“This is probably the first time we have a report in which they aren’t any blanks.”
“Caricom has even contacted us to discuss some of the things they can learn from us, so that they can advise other countries.”
Singh explained that although persons are being tested, they have become a little complacent with regards to the time they wait to begin treatment.
“We know people are being tested. What we find is that people will not believe the results…they will take awhile before they get into the treatment.”
However, there is a misconception, she said, about the time when people start the treatment.  The director explained that five years ago people would come early to start their treatment. But people now tend to come in late to begin their treatment which can be open for opportunist infections. She also explained that the person can be walking around with a high viral load. It was noted that they have revised the tester counsellor programe, which if you’re tested positive they will give you a referral card and ensure that the person gets registered at a clinic for early treatment. She insisted that Guyana has made tremendous strides in the HIV field.

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