Well-deserved kudos

About 30 years ago, AIDS was terrifying, deadly and spreading at a rapid rate, but today, we have a chance to end this epidemic once and for all. In reviewing the progress made since the 2001 Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations (UN) had pointed out that new infections had dropped by 20 per cent, and HIV was on a steep decline in some of the most-affected countries, including Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which had cut infection rates by one quarter in the last 30 years.
Countries again pledged in 2011 to take specific steps to achieve ambitious goals by 2015. While some have already achieved measurable progress and are closer to achieving the targets agreed to, there is still a far way to go for others.
According to a report by UNAIDS, 34 million people around the world are now thought to have the virus that causes AIDS. The head of UNAIDS, Michael Sidibi, in a recent update, said that 25 countries have reduced the number of new infections by more than 50 per cent. In his estimation, the world has moved from a phase of political rhetoric to effective programmes being implemented which are certainly having a positive impact.
It should also be noted that many more people with HIV are now receiving life-saving drugs which help to keep the virus under control. In the Caribbean region, we 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. For example, from 2009 to 2011, there was a 32 per cent reduction in the number of babies contracting HIV from their mothers.
Additionally, the Caribbean is the only developing region that has approached the near-universal coverage of antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Some 79 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV now access treatment to prevent passing on the virus. This is certainly quite an achievement by any standard.
Guyana, in particular, is being lauded by key stakeholders for its remarkable progress in fighting HIV/AIDS. Guyana/Suriname UN HIV/AIDS programme coordinator, Dr Roberto Luiz Brant Campos, recently said that Guyana is on track for the achievement of Goal Six of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seeks to combat HIV/AIDS by 2015.
He pointed to the outstanding feat of Guyana in decreasing its HIV prevalence in pregnant women in the last 10 years from 2.6 to 0.9 per cent. This was achieved through the ‘prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme’, which has received accolades internationally and is now being used as a best practice in many countries.
The UNAIDS representative also lauded the fact that access to HIV/AIDS treatment is now readily available to 80 per cent of the population in need. This country has also seen a steady decrease of HIV/AIDS cases from 2006. According to the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in Guyana has been reduced to one per cent of the total population, complying with the UNAIDS target of 1.3 per cent.
Guyana is currently pursuing a trajectory of eliminating HIV/AIDS by 2020, as outlined in its strategic plan. Health officials in Guyana said the country 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.
That being said, the region, including Guyana, cannot become complacent. In order to sustain the advances made, governments and international donor partners need to put more money and effort towards ensuring that their HIV programmes can be sustained. As advised by UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team Director, Dr Ernest Massiah, 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.
While we must be proud of our successes, it is necessary for us to continue to press governments, civil society and the private sector to work together to ensure that past commitments to achieve universal access to life-saving treatments were met, and that the elusive pandemic was stopped in its tracks once and for all.