More men are seeking their HIV status – NAPS

Mar 31, 2015 News

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Previously women were leading the way when it came to people being aware of their Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status. But this trend has been gradually changing in these parts.
According to Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr. Shanti Singh, during an interview with this publication, “We have seen good progress in terms of the general HIV testing process…We are seeing men are getting tested as equal as their female counterparts.”
This development is however a relatively new one since, according to Dr. Singh, NAPS has in recent years been able to monitor the gender testing practices and derive a definitive conclusion which suggests, that the number of men seeking to know their HIV status is on par with that of women.
In order for such a concrete conclusion to be made, she explained that efforts were focused on monitoring the HIV testing trend of both males and females over a specified period. This process revealed that “there have been equally good outcomes for our males and females and this is good news for us this year,” informed Dr. Singh.
This development the NAPS Programme Manager intimated has resulted in an improved survivability rate across the board, a state of affairs that has been linked to the fact, that members of both genders have been accessing treatment once tested positive. Previously, the female gender recorded a better survivability rate.  Female gender then accounted for a higher survivability rate ranging from 12 and 36 months to 60 months and even longer, as more women were seeking to know their status and subsequently access treatment thereby, helping to prolong their lives.
And Dr. Singh has attributed the gender parity development to the fact that “we have strengthened our work programme within the HIV Care and Treatment programme. We have developed manuals for them to work with and there are more standard operating procedures, and there is greater involvement with the entire clinical team in terms of bringing in and retaining the men who are in our treatment programme.”
Dr. Singh has assured too, that efforts will continue to be focused on ensuring that the gains made are sustained and even improved. Moreover, she noted that the work programme will be subjected to continuous monitoring as she added that “we are very optimistic about this aspect of the programme.”
While more men have been seeking to know their status, Dr. Singh disclosed that this level of progress has not been realised in all aspects of the National AIDS programme. Alluding to the Prevention of Mother to Child transmission (PMTCT) programme, Dr. Singh noted that because of this state of affairs, deliberate efforts were being directed to have more men included.
The PMTCT Programme is one that is geared towards helping to tackle the transmission of HIV from a mother to her unborn child.
Explaining the process recently, the Programme Manager said that the original intent of the PMTCT programme; is to ensure that once a mother enters antenatal clinic and is tested positive for HIV, efforts is then made to ensure that she is placed on Antiretrovirals (ARVs).
And according to Dr. Singh, the number of persons that have benefited from the programme has been significant. She disclosed that close to 90 per cent of these have been tracked by Case Managers.
With the aid of Case Managers, Dr. Singh asserted that the transmission levels have noticeably declined. “Last year we had about a 1.7 per cent transmission rate, and that decreased from 2.1 per cent the previous year but I don’t know exactly what it stands at this year,” the NAPS Manager intimated.
She nevertheless dubbed the programme a “remarkable initiative” as from all indications it has been working well.
But although the programme has been yielding successes, Dr. Singh noted that one of its expected outcomes has not met the desired expectation. She disclosed that while reducing mother to child transmission is the primary aim of the programme, the programme was also designed to incorporate the support of the male gender as well.
According to Dr. Singh, it was hoped the mothers-to-be would have been accompanied by their male spouses and also be tested at the same time. While some persons have taken advantage of this, the NAPS Manager pointed out that “I think progress has been slow in that regard.
If you look at the number of women who have been tested positive and compare that to the number of male partners it is relatively low.”
“I recently looked at the PMTCT programme figures and I don’t think it has reached a two-digit figure,” said Dr. Singh of the men enrolled in the programme.

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