– data shows deaths rising
Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy said chronic diseases continue to pose a serious problem to public health everywhere, but the investment has been very poor. He said Guyana is currently scaling up its activities to correct the problem.
On the local diabetes register there is around 7,000 entries and that includes 36 children. Ramsammy said the ministry is tracking diabetic patients and is following-up on treatment. He said too that health officials now have a better sense of who is diagnosed with what and how they are coping. He made reference to the National Foot Care programme stressing that people need to show up before they reach the stage for amputations. According to him, an aggressive referral campaign to the diabetic foot programme has resulted in a 63 per cent reduction in amputations in Guyana.
Ramsammy said there is now an aggressive universal call for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be amended to have indicators for chronic diseases, adding that he believes this will be achieved next year when a review of the MDGs is undertaken.
What is alarming, Ramsammy said, is some 60 per cent of deaths locally are accounted for by a handful of diseases. The figures as of 2006 point to ischemic heart diseases at 12.1 per cent of deaths; cerebrovascular diseases at 10.6 per cent; cancer at 8.8 per cent; diabetes at 8.1 per cent; AIDS at 5.9 per cent and hypertension at 4.8 per cent. He noted that a serious problem has arisen with respiratory infections which were at 3.4 per cent of deaths. However, he said respiratory infections are affecting children under the age of five.
Since 2006, he said, AIDS deaths have gone down while the chronic diseases have gone up. Ramsammy was not inclined to release recent figures since according to him the Ministry is now verifying every death certificate to ascertain the exact cause of death, particularly in HIV and suicide cases. He said that in order to compile accurate data the process of re-checking is important, noting it also aids the health information system. “If more than 60 per cent of deaths are coming from there we have to invest in chronic diseases so we can reduce its impact on mortality and morbidity,” Ramsammy added.
H1N1
Providing an update on the H1N1 virus, Ramsammy said experts, who were expected in Guyana to train healthcare technicians to use the PRC equipment for H1N1 testing, did not come. The ministry has since collaborated with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) for an expert from the US to conduct the training. Ramsammy said alternative arrangements are also in place to have a health specialist from South Africa to travel here if the arrangements with the US fail to materalise.
He said also that people who have questions must be aware that the virus comes with a high fever. “…so if you don’t have fever the chances are that you are not experiencing it,” he added. He said people have been contacting the ministry reporting coughs. To date the number of cases remains at 17 with no new confirmations for a few weeks now.
The plan, Ramsammy said, is to commence local testing for the virus by December. He said also that strict criteria would be in place for testing specimens as it regards requests from the private sector. Recently the ministry acquired the PRC equipment to test for H1N1 and it is currently being installed at the National Public Health Laboratory. The equipment was secured from the US using PEPFAR funds, but the actual procurement was done by PAHO.
National day
of testing
Ramsammy announced that the City Mall, two commercial banks and the local abattoir have been added to the list of testing sites as part of the countrywide campaign for the National Day of testing set for November 4 this year.
He told reporters that butchers and other persons who work at the abattoir have complained in the past about having access to a testing site. Ramsammy said other city workers have made similar complaints and as a result the City Mall, as well as Republic Bank and Scotia Bank have joined the campaign. He said the banks have committed to having testing sites at all branches.
Some 310 sites have been certified this year and according to Ramsammy the sites are now being upgraded. He noted that only one site failed the test for certification this year because there were concerns about the confidentiality process.
The minister will again have his test done publicly and he managed to secure commitments from a few local entertainers to join him. The ministry is targeting 20,000 persons this year in the national testing drive.
Dengue
Ramsammy said also that dengue continues to be a challenge in Guyana, noting that a reduced number of cases were recorded over the last three months. The last quarter has been the lowest for the year, he added but so far over 1,000 cases have been recorded.
The current figure is twice the number of cases for the corresponding period last year, a trend he said, that has been seen in many countries. The minister said that the mosquito population has risen on the coast over the last few weeks and this will result in an increase in the number of dengue cases. Ramsammy warned that families should acquire and use mosquito nets.
