from left: Shirley Inniss, Desiree Edghill, Eulanie Torrezao, Annette Jaundoo, and Edris George
The National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) on Friday honoured several individuals and organisations who dedicated their energies for a number of years to impact the fight against HIV/ AIDS.
The appreciation ceremony was held at the Cara Lodge Hotel, Quamina Street, Georgetown. Globally, World AIDS Day was observed recently on December 1 and marked 26 years since the first AIDS case was discovered in Guyana, in 1987.
This period also marked 21 years since the establishment of NAPS. For over two decades, the NAPS has been working in unison with its partners, inter-sectoral ministries, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and other key stakeholders to prevent new infections and ensure universal access to treatment and care services.
NAPS Programme Manager, Dr Shanti Singh said Guyana is turning the tide against the HIV epidemic with fewer babies being born with HIV, less HIV infections and people living with HIV are living longer and healthier lives.
Dr Singh affirmed that Guyana is well poised to declare the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission.
Fewer deaths
Currently, more than 81 per cent of persons living with HIV are reporting a 12-month survival and AIDS-related deaths have decreased from almost 10 per cent in 2002 to less than four per cent in 2010, Dr Singh pointed out.
Importantly, a regional release from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) ranked Guyana as one of the seven countries to have achieved universal access to HIV treatment with coverage of 93 per cent. This places Guyana only two places behind Barbados and Cuba with 95 per cent coverage.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, who delivered remarks on behalf of the Health Minister, emphasised the importance of the HIV response as demonstrated with the inclusion of HIV/ AIDS as a health priority in Health Vision 20/ 20 Strategy.
It is only fitting therefore, that the NAPS recognise individuals and organisations that have been serving relentlessly over the many years and contributed to the successes of the Guyana HIV/ AIDS response.
Those receiving longstanding service awards were United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Programme Manager Edris George; Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) Coordinating Unit Director Dereck Springer; Artistes in Direct Support Executive Director Desiree Edghill; International Labour Organisation (ILO) Programme Officer Sean Wilson; and NAPS Community Mobilisation Coordinator Nazim Hussain.
Each individual served in HIV/ AIDS for over a decade, some reaching over two decades. Three NGOs were awarded for making the greatest impact in reaching the key populations of men who have sex with men and female commercial sex workers. There were Artistes in Direct Support; United Bricklayers; New Amsterdam Berbice and Family, Awareness, Consciousness, Togetherness (FACT) of Springlands, Berbice.
