HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention

Education and prevention
thenassauguardian editorial


It was interesting to hear an official from the Bahamas AIDS Foundation during a talk radio show say that AIDS has been downgraded to a communicable disease from a killer disease.

She went on to explain that because of the advancement in medicine, it is now possible for people to live with the disease longer and stronger.

While that is good news, it makes one wonder if such information would only add to the nonchalant attitude that many people currently have towards AIDS - especially young people.

The fact that AIDS can be downgraded may cause some to let down their guard about their sexual responsibility. There is the fear that now that new medicines are being made available to not just manage the disease, but allow people to live longer, some may no longer take the risk of contracting the disease as serious as they would have in the past.

But the truth is, even in the face of medical advancement AIDS is still a silent killer in The Bahamas.

Usually, that characteristic was given to hypertension, which has no warning signs, but able to strike at any minute.

Over the past few years, since the initial all out campaigns to try and stop the spread of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) it has gone on to kill millions every year.

Here are some facts – 33.4 million people are living with AIDS worldwide.

Of that number close to 300,000 of those people reside within the Caribbean. Further, since the end of 2008, 12,000 people within the Caribbean have died from AIDS related illnesses.

It was good to see the focus return to the AIDS epidemic during World AIDS Day on December 1, because for the past few years people seemed to have forgotten about the killer disease.

Some how, as the world got crazier and as the world turned its attention to terrorism, it seemed as if the focus on AIDS education had waned. AIDS had become yesterday’s news. But the truth is, AIDS is still out there and it is still affecting millions of people everyday.

The sexual promiscuity among our young people and adults is an indication that the necessary sex education and discussions about AIDS had dwindled greatly. We must return to spreading the word that AIDS is still a killer disease.

Yes, even in the face of the most modern of medicines, we must continue to warn people about the importance of being sexually responsible. Casual sex is no longer a trend that has no consequences.

We have reached a point now where a stigma has been attached to people infected with AIDS. But times have changed.

It is that same stigma which has caused many affected Bahamians not to step forward and seek medical help. They are afraid of the tag that would be attached to them.

However, in our educational revamp of AIDS and HIV, removing such a stigma associated with this disease must also take place.

Unlike other sexually transmitted diseases in the past which may have gone away with time, or treated effectively, AIDS has not gone away. It continues to take lives on a daily basis. We must turn our attention again to education and prevention.

12/2/2010

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General on the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in The Region

Caricom Secretary-General Calls HIV/Aids 'Clear And Present' Danger

Bahamas Information Services

29th November 2004

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts/Nevis - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington, says the region is locked in a 'deadly stranglehold' by the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is likely to annihilate a sizeable portion of its workforce if something 'radical' is not done to reverse the trend.

Mr. Carrington said the epidemic has already cost regional economies more than $50 million directly and indirectly, in addition to the large numbers of nationals who have died as a result of complications from the disease.

(The monetary figures were obtained from a survey conducted by the Health Economic Unit).

According to the latest UNAIDS figures, the Caribbean is the second-most affected region in the world, trailing only sub-Sahara Africa.  Statistics further show that AIDS has become the leading cause of death among persons aged 15-44.

The UN AIDS report also shows that there have been 53,000 new cases of adults and children infected with the disease in 2004.

"We are entering times of clear and present danger and this is particularly threatening and disturbing, especially now that we in this region are optimistically poised to implement the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)," said Mr. Carrington.

"HIV/AIDS is a destructive force that can undermine the whole edifice of the CSME.  The epidemic of stigma and discrimination fuels human and economic disaster if not checked as a matter of urgency," he added.

Mr. Carrington said there is an accumulative 500,000 infected persons living with the disease, including the 53,000 persons who acquired the virus in 2004.

He said an estimated 40,000 persons have died from the disease, with more than 20,000 children expected to be left orphaned by the year 2020, as a result of the disease.

The Secretary-General said Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) represent a significant part of the labour force between the ages 15-44, considered the most productive years.

"These trends raise alarm bells for us in the Caribbean," said Mr. Carrington.  "All the indications are that we are locked in a deadly stranglehold by an epidemic that is likely to annihilate a sizeable portion of our workforce if something radical does not happen to reverse the trends.'

Mr. Carrington said HIV/AIDS is a complex, developmental issue that is not confined to any one sector, organization, agency or individual and that no single ministry, organization or agency can successfully combat the disease or the stigma and discrimination attached to it.

He said those countries in the region that have achieved successes in the war on AIDS ‐ The Bahamas is recognized as having one of the greatest success stories in the Americas with regards to treatment and education ‐ have achieved those results because of multi-dimensional approaches to the epidemic that combine the human and financial resources of government, the private sector, the public service, religious organizations and civil society groups.

"Do we truly believe in the multi-dimensional approach or are we so caught up in defending our programmes and positions that we fail to be honest with ourselves and more importantly to those who really matter, people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS?" Mr. Carrington asked.

"We are dealing with real people, humanity, and a condition that is primarily spread by the most intimate of acts.  People will deal with this differently and we must be prepared, in keeping with our respective callings and mandates, to offer assistance and more important, to offer leadership as individuals and as organizations.

"We must not be consumed with fighting over turf, status, ideologies and philosophies because while we are so consumed, people are dying, children are suffering, our economies are collapsing," the Secretary-General added.

Meanwhile, UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr. Peter Piot, said there are signs that stronger prevention efforts in The Bahamas and Barbados since the late 1990s, could be nudging HIV-infection levels lower.

Dr. Piot warned, however, that the lack of good-quality HIV-surveillance data in most Caribbean countries is hampering the ability to design and run potentially effective prevention programmes and will almost certainly undermine efforts to expand access to antiretroviral treatment.

"As the region with the second-highest rate of HIV-prevalence in the world, AIDS is already having a major economic impact in the Caribbean," said Dr. Piot.  "But AIDS is more than just a disease, it's a threat to human security and development (that is) unique in human history.

Dr. Piot said social, not just technical challenges will need to be addressed if the countries of this region are to bring their epidemics under control.

"The stigma and discrimination drive AIDS underground.  The increased vulnerability to HIV can hamper our efforts to reverse its spread.  If children with HIV are turned away from school as happened in Guyana last month and if men who have sex with men are killed as happened in Jamaica, then fear rather than fight will reign and whole communities will suffer," he said.