There is a need for strengthened HIV and AIDS awareness and sensitisation programmes, according to Deputy Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) Dr. Nicolette Boatswain, who says steps are being taken to address this gap.
Dr. Boatswain was yesterday asked whether Guyana has “dropped the ball” as it relates to its fight against HIV and AIDS as some in civil society have said that this has contributed to the stigma and discrimination faced by HIV positive persons.
“I recognise that there is a need for strengthening in terms of our sensitisation and awareness and this is one way in which we hope to remedy that… engaging the public. There has to be a resurgence of our interaction with fellow Guyanese [on] HIV information and always keeping you in the loop,” Dr. Boatswain told the media yesterday at NAPS’ Hadfield Street location.
She said yesterday’s press conference was one form of public engagement and that they would continue to engage the media, who they see as partners in getting their messages out to the public.
NAPS, she said, is also developing a behavioural change communication strategy, which is needed.
“So I agree with you, but steps are being taken,” she said in an answer to the question from Stabroek News as to whether more awareness programmes need to be done to tackle HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination.
She also noted that in the preventive aspect of its programme, NAPS has always incorporated sensitisation and education for in and out of school youths, which will continue. She said also it has been working on adolescent health and that there is a focal point at the Ministry of Education that they have been working on to ensure that teaching on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are included in the curriculum.
To mark World AIDS Day earlier this month, the heads of two civil society organisations had called for more to be done to combat stigma and discrimination.
Country coordinator for International Community of Women with HIV (ICW) Marlyn Cameron, who also heads the location affiliate of ICW, Guyana Community of Women and Girls Living with HIV (GCWAG) and who advocates for women and girls living with HIV, had told this newspaper that her heart breaks every day when she witnesses how persons living with the virus are discriminated against. She had spoken of a 21-year-old HIV positive young woman who refuses to go on treatment because she is afraid her status would be revealed and she would stigmatised.
And Executive Director of the National Coordinating Coalition Inc (NCC) Simone Sills had said that there is need for more to be done to address the issue of stigma and discrimination. She believed that “we [Guyana] took our feet off the brakes in terms of the intense awareness and education campaigns.” She had said that while indeed Guyana’s fight against HIV has seen many successes, there is still much more to be done in the area of stigma and discrimination. Sills had said that while stigma and discrimination are still very prevalent, they are not as “dreadful” as before. She had pointed out that because there is still fear among family members it is stymying the progress of persons living with HIV to care for themselves and to get the support that they require.
“HIV medication is widely available in Guyana but because persons do not always have the family support, they are afraid to take the medication because no one in the house knows they are infected,” Sills had said at the time.
Recent figures show that the number of persons who are living with HIV in Guyana is over 8,000 and of those over 5,000 are on treatment. The estimated HIV prevalence in 2017 was 1.7 per cent. Dr. Boatswain yesterday said that the prevalence rate in Guyana is currently 1.4 per cent.
Don’t disregard
Meanwhile, Dr. Boatswain yesterday reminded the public that the holiday season is not an opportunity to disregard their health and she urged that persons make wise choices. She said NAPS encourages persons to make the effort to ensure that they are protected in a way that is effective for each partner and couple. Persons were reminded of the ABCDEs of HIV: abstain, be faithful, condom use, don’t do drugs and education and awareness.
She urged persons to become aware of the steps involved in getting an HIV test done at sites that offer voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). VCT, she said, is a specific form of HIV testing that includes counselling before and after an HIV test. She noted that while HIV testing is available at private labs and other facilities, they do not include counselling.
“But at all Voluntary Testing and Counselling sites, the client voluntarily accesses services for an HIV test and must be counselled before and after the test is done regardless of the results,” the deputy head of NAPS said.
And NAPS National VCT Coordinator Deborah Success said that all sites that conduct HIV testing must follow the national HIV testing algorithm. This algorithm provides that no person can be diagnosed HIV positive with just one test, no form of identification is needed when a person goes for a test (as only the person’s initials and date of birth are requested and this is used to form a unique patient code) and a client must give consent before testing is done.
According to the algorithm, a counsellor has a right to refuse providing the service under certain circumstances, including if the client is abusive, if the client returned for a test before the date indicated for the next test, if the client has already been diagnosed positive and the counsellor has proof of this, and if the counsellor has strong reasons to believe the client is not giving correct information or is impersonating someone else.
Success further said that at all fixed sites the counsellor must display a copy of their VCT certificate indicating that they are trained and no counsellor should conduct physical examinations of a client unless they are a doctor, a nurse or nursing assistant who has been trained in HIV counselling and testing.
Further no counsellor/tester attached to public sites is allowed to request any form of donations as all services at these sites are free of cost. These rules, Success said, also apply to those counsellors/testers at outreaches under the Ministry of Public Health.
Success said that all persons conducting a test must receive a results card, on the front of which will carry the name of the facility where the test is being done. Inside the card the results will be stamped (not written) either reactive (which means HIV positive) or non-reactive (which means HIV negative. The card will also indicate the name of the tester either by a signature, the tester’s full name, initial or first name and complete last name.
“The national programme can identify the signatures of all active counsellors/testers and holds the right to investigate any testing activity suspected to be done under unethical or fraudulent circumstances,” Success warned.
