Guyana must maintain the HIV/AIDS fight

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) continues to be a major global public health issue that claims the lives of thousands worldwide every year. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2017, 940, 000 people died from HIV-related causes globally. There were approximately 36.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2017 with 1.8 million people becoming newly infected in 2017 globally.
59% of adults and 52% of children living with HIV were receiving lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2017. Global ART coverage for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV is high at 80%.
The WHO African Region is the most affected region, with 25.7 million people living with HIV in 2017. The African region also accounts for over two thirds of the global total of new HIV infections. It is estimated that currently only 70% of people with HIV know their status.
To reach the target of 90%, an additional 7.5 million people need to access HIV testing services. It should be noted though that many more people with HIV are now receiving life-saving drugs which help to keep the virus under control. But millions of people who need treatment still do not have it. For example, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected part of the world, though some countries there have made impressive efforts in reducing fresh cases. For example; Ethiopia, Malawi and Botswana have achieved big reductions in new infections which shows they are capable of controlling the spread of the disease.
Caribbean countries, including Guyana, can boast of several successes in relation to our HIV response. Programmes to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, reduce new HIV infections and treat people living with the virus have yielded encouraging results. Additionally, the Caribbean is the only developing region that has approached the near-universal coverage of antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission. According to official statistics, the Caribbean leads the world in the rates of its reduction in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.
In Guyana in particular, there is a steady decline in the number of new reported cases of HIV infection among a significantly higher number of persons coming forward to be tested. The programmes that have been implemented have resulted in significant progress being made and should certainly be continued.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud, was quoted in this newspaper recently as saying that Guyana continues to forge ahead with achieving the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) “90-90-90 targets”. This target seeks to have 90 per cent of people living with HIV become aware of their infection, 90 per cent of the people diagnosed with HIV linked to antiretroviral treatment (ART) and 90 per cent of those on ART adhering and having undetectable levels of HIV in their blood.
Dr Persaud noted that there have been significant improvements in the 90-90-90 programme, but there were a few challenges that the Public Health Ministry continues to battle with in order to successfully achieve this goal.
Recent statistics from the Education Ministry revealed that Guyana has a higher percentage of its HIV+ population on treatment than the total percentage of the Caribbean Region. Last year, of the 8369 persons estimated to be infected in Guyana, 66 per cent (5557) were successfully put on treatment.
That said, Guyana cannot become complacent as the gains made over the years, due to the efforts of the previous and current administrations and other health partners, could be reversed. In order to sustain the advances made, the government and other development partners need to put more money and effort towards ensuring that their HIV programmes can be sustained. For example, more needs to be done to address the prejudice and social inequities that operate to make some people, both more vulnerable to HIV infection and less likely to access prevention, testing, treatment and care services. Young people, men who have sex with men and sex workers are among the populations that need targeted investments and more protective environments through a combination of social dialogue and increased tolerance.
The battle against HIV/AIDs is one that is ongoing. It is therefore wise to continue reassessing where we are at present, what could be done differently and what sort of interventions and resources are need to ensure that Guyana is on top of its game in meeting the relevant HIV/AIDS targets.