Guyana has a right to be proud of its successes in the HIV/AIDS fight

Dear Editor,
The Guyana Times newspaper reported International HIV/ AIDS advocate and former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy as telling the delegates of the 19th International AIDS conference held in Washington DC that Guyana is pursuing a trajectory of eliminating HIV/ AIDS by 2020. This is quite an ambitious goal, but based on the successes we have had so far, it is clear that it is possible to achieve.

Based on your news report, the minister made some very useful points during his presentation at the conference which I am sure other countries have taken note of. For example, he underlined the case that HIV/ AIDS poses a significant socio-economic challenge for our country. It is a developmental issue, and since Guyana is recovering from decades of underdevelopment, HIV/ AIDS represents a major barrier to overcoming it.
That aside, the minister has every right to boast about Guyana’s achievements as we were able to significantly bring down the percentage of HIV/ AIDS in the country. He said that Guyana is on a path to achieving a collective goal of having zero new infections, zero stigma and discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero mother-to-child transmission by 2020.
Editor, there is enough evidence to show that Guyana’s progress in part has resulted from strong political will and commitment, and a willingness to frontally address social and cultural norms that serve as a driver of the HIV epidemic. For example, the country has been confronting issues such as sex, drugs, discrimination, domestic violence and gender issues head-on and have enacted legislation in this regard.
According to the minister, in terms of AIDS cases, Guyana recorded an average of about 500 cases, annually, up to 2003. In 2011, this dropped to 40 new AIDS cases. The treatment programme with antiretroviral medicines is working well, preventing the progression from HIV to AIDS.
Also, in terms of mortality due to AIDS, this has been reducing every year since 2002. In 2002, AIDS-related deaths accounted for 9.5 per cent of all deaths. This was reduced to 4.7 per cent by the end of 2008. I should mention that, based on official statistics, presently, more than 3500 persons are in Guyana’s HIV/ AIDS treatment programme and are being treated with ARVs.
In addition, close to 1200 persons are receiving treatment and care through an innovative home-based care programme in Guyana. These are all worthy achievements and I trust that we would not be complacent in the battle against this dreadful disease, as the task to ensure that it is eliminated still remains a challenging one.
Yours truly,
Rachel Castello