Guyana seeing 100 cases less of HIV annually – NAPS Director

Mar 28, 2014 News

The National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), the HIV-fighting arm of the Ministry of Health, is quietly celebrating successes realised in the fight against HIV/AIDS, even as fervent efforts continue in this regard.
Speaking to media operatives recently, Programme Manager of NAPS, Dr Shanti Singh, disclosed that “when we do examine the HIV cases coming into the Ministry of Health, we have seen from about 2009 a reduction in the number of new cases being reported.”
She disclosed that since from around 2008, there were about 1,200 new reported cases with an even greater dip by the end of 2012, characterised by the 820 reported cases.

NAPS Programme Director, Dr Shanti Singh

“We have seen about 100 new cases less every year,” confirmed Dr Singh, who revealed that currently NAPS is working towards analysing the cases for last year, a process which is expected to be completed shortly.
Currently NAPS has in focus the key populations of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and Commercial Sex Workers, and according to Dr Singh, it is expected that new prevalence data among these factions will be available by the end of June. NAPS, she intimated, is engaged in collecting data in this regard.
“We are hoping that with the response that we have had for the key populations, MSM and Commercial Sex Workers, that we will be able to have a further reduction in HIV/AIDS in those populations.”
As part of its continued HIV/AIDS fight, NAPS is also working towards completing a Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey (BBSS) as it relates to the key populations. Included in this BBSS, Dr Singh said, is the migrant population of miners and loggers, and the results for this process are also expected to be available in a matter of months.
According to the NAPS Programme Director, the national HIV/AIDS treatment programme has not only been gaining momentum, but there have been many notable successes. This, she noted, is evident by the high survival rates for persons living with HIV who are receiving treatment and are still on treatment after one year.
Added to this, she boasted that “we have maintained universal access to HIV treatment, and Guyana is one of the few countries in Latin America/the Caribbean to attain over 80 per cent universal access to treatment.”
And the positive outcomes of the national HIV/AIDS programme could not have been noted without proper Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). Moreover, Dr Singh said that “in regards to monitoring and evaluation, we have had a number of achievements in that area, including the fact that we have had an M&E framework that is attached to the HI-Vision 2020.”
The Ministry of Health has in place its strategic plan (HI-Vision 2020) which is expected to guide the work of the Ministry including its fight against HIV. And through the Strategic Plan, Dr Singh said that target-setting processes have been conducted, which has allowed for a three-year target being put in place.
NAPS, according to Dr Singh, has in the meantime been able to complete a strategic client satisfaction survey at HIV and Tuberculosis sites, even as she disclosed that “we still have some challenges in M&E and strategic information, including the fact that there isn’t one central clearing house for all of our data, and that is one of the areas we are working on.”
As such she underscored that “we still have a lot of challenges, including the fact that we have to sustain the response with reduced funding.”

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