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Guyana completes first draft report in quest to end Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV
The Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of the Human Immunodeficiency
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings
Virus (HIV) has officially become a programme to eliminate mother to child transmission altogether. This development has been asserted by Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings.
According to Minister Cummings, part of the Ministry’s tactic to achieve this elimination goal is a move towards ensuring that “all mothers enrolling in Antenatal Clinics (ANC) are offered the HIV test as part of their care.” In addition to this, she disclosed that rapid testing of ANC mothers is also done on the labour and postnatal wards for those mothers who did not have HIV testing done.
Guyana has long been eyeing elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, and Minister Cummings divulged that during the past year Guyana was able to complete the first draft of its Country Report for the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission.
In wake of Cuba’s achievement of this feat in 2015, former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, had revealed the Public Health Ministry was keen on doing likewise.
“We recognize them (Cuba) for what they have done and there are many things that might have gone in their favour or might be in their favour, but we take away no credit and laud Cuba for being the first country in the world to have achieved that,” said the Minister as he noted that Guyana is poised for a similar achievement.
He’d pointed out that unlike Cuba’s island setting, Guyana’s borders are porous.
“We are surrounded by countries that we really have no control over and persons traverse frequently,” said the Minister, as he admitted that eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV “would be a difficult thing to do, but regardless of that, we should try to gain that status like Cuba has done.”
But Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud had noted that “the bottom line of Cuba’s achievement is that its health system is really built on a solid primary health care foundation.”
”I think that’s probably the key to Cuba achieving their elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis,” said Dr. Persaud, as he underscored the importance of primary health care here in Guyana.
He noted that while the role of the health sector is paramount, the support of civil society is also a motivating factor in the quest for the ambitious goal Guyana now eyes – the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Guyana has seen a decline in the mother-to-child transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from 5.8 percent in 2010 to less than one percent in 2015.
Moreover, during the past year, much emphasis was placed on training of health care workers to further reduce the transmission rate. Among the measures that were undertaken was PMTCT training in Region Five which saw the participation of some 22 individuals; case-tracking training for 28 persons was conducted and dry blood spot testing for 18 individuals was also done.
Site visits were conducted at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, New Amsterdam Hospital, Lethem, Matthew’s Ridge, Moruca, Port Kaituma, Charity Hospital, Suddie Hospital, Skeldon Hospital, and at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
However, Minister Cummings noted that the major challenges faced in the execution of this sub-programme in 2016 included the lack of integration of PMTCT into Maternal and Child Health (MCH) at both central and regional level, and inadequate PMTCT services, especially in the hinterland regions, due to inadequate human resources.
However, strategic global partnerships have already put the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV within sight, according to UNAIDS.
This essentially means that the world is nearly on track to reach the targets to reduce mother-to-child transmission. However, UNAIDS has asserted that the current rate of scale-up of paediatric treatment appears insufficient. As such, closing the gap will require tremendous additional effort to diagnose infants living with HIV and enrolling them in treatment as soon as possible.
This suggestion has been amplified in the 2016 UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report which highlights that redoubled efforts to close the prevention gap can be built on a foundation of unparalleled global advocacy and financial commitment too.
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