HIV-infected Amerindians among most discriminated

Dec 02, 2012 News

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– Nat’l AIDS Committee

While all HIV-positive persons are vulnerable, the most at-risk groups in terms of discrimination in Guyana are HIV-positive Amerindians, women and people with disabilities whose access to jobs, education and HIV treatment are limited.
At least this is according to a statement issued by the National AIDS Committee (NAC) on Friday, last, the eve of World AIDS Day.
World AIDS Day is observed the world over on December 1 on an annual basis and yesterday the observance embraced the theme “Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths”.
Narrowing the discrimination even further to Amerindian women, the NAC has posited that due to the gold rush taking place in interior locations, large numbers of itinerant miners have ready access to Amerindian communities in remote areas. This state of affairs is compounded by the fact that young Amerindian girls are being trafficked into mining camps for sex work purposes while doctors rarely visit communities, at most on a quarterly basis, the NAC has outlined.
Nevertheless, the Committee said that it welcomes the reported reduction in new infections in Guyana in 2011, although this is not recorded along with other Caribbean territories in the UNAIDS Day Report 2012: Results.
This reduction was reportedly achieved in 2011 despite the alarming drop in condom availability which apparently more than halved – by over 56 per cent – from 4,904,041 in 2010 to 2,761,981 in 2011, according to the 2012 Guyana UNGASS Report.
NAC has observed that access to female condoms reduced even more dramatically from 33,000 in 2010 to a mere 1100 in 2011, which is equivalent to three per day for the entire female population in 2011.
According to NAC, reliable and regular condom availability is vital to the central message of HIV prevention, namely the habitual use of condoms for safe sex, adding that ease of access is an essential component to creating such habits.
“Seen in the specific context of mining districts in remote areas, it is difficult to see how the falling rate of infections can be sustained with no condoms available at all,” the NAC missive outlines.
An additional concern from the body, which continues to be at loggerheads with the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), is that there is an abysmal standard of midwifery prevailing even at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. This situation, it said, has resulted in unattended births and maternal deaths.
“Expectant mothers delivering unattended by hostile personnel create an image which will deter expectant mothers from going to health facilities.  This will jeopardize the good record Guyana has achieved with respect to PMTCT (Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission),” NAC has concluded.
According to the Committee, “Getting to zero deaths” in Guyana is hampered by the continued practice of non-recording of deaths due to AIDS out of regard for the virulent stigma still surrounding the virus. There is a perception that AIDS-related deaths are lessening, but without reliable statistics such impressions are hard to verify, the Committee has asserted.
The statement adds, too, that several conclusions to be drawn from a brief consideration of the status of getting to zero include the need for a more integrated delivery of services, particularly in outlying areas.
Added to this, NAC says that a number of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) have been complaining about the number of doctors who are unfamiliar with treatment strategies. This is along with the practice of frequent rotation, which means that an individual doctor has little opportunity to familiarize him or herself with individual patient’s treatment regimes. The need for locating PMTCT within a more integrated approach to maternity through to delivery would seem to be a necessary precaution, given the prevailing standards of midwifery, NAC stated.
The Commitee has also pointed out that generating reliable statistics about HIV and AIDS is a function of reducing the stigma associated with the virus. However it has noted with concern that persons living with HIV continue to be viewed as “morally decadent.”
As such, the tendency for them to disguise, suppress, avoid and hide will frustrate the possibility of achieving a clear picture of current trends and future projections of HIV.
It was outlined, too, that the inclination to condemn is prevalent at all levels of society, with families, religious leaders and health professionals often leading the charge.
“The fact that no HIV-positive person of any social class or status in Guyana has felt confident enough to publicly acknowledge his or her status, reflects both the strength of stigma surrounding HIV and the nature of the real challenge to getting to zero by 2015,” the NAC statement amplified.
It further outlines that confronting stigma and discrimination is a social and political responsibility, which to date has been evaded largely by those best placed to give a lead to the rest of the society. Added to this, NAC said that Government continues to resist pressure to add sexual orientation to the list of categories protected by the Constitution.   Moreover, the lack of leadership is also reflected in the absence of any legal steps to foster a sense of safety among PLWHA, the statement concluded.

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