Week of HIV testing reveals 0.5 – 0.7 percent rate of infection – Dr. Ramsammy

– concerns about prevalence among teens
MINISTER of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, last week disclosed that during the national week of testing three weeks ago, there were 218 HIV-positive cases out of a total of 34,000 persons who sought to know their status.
The minister said that this represented a prevalence rate of 0.5 to 0.7 percent of the population tested.
“We have reached a stage where we will stay for the while,” the minister said during an interview with this newspaper. He added that unless there is a dramatic reduction in the new infections, the prevalence rate will remain the same, since persons infected with the disease are living longer, meaning that they will be counted among the infected population.
“We want the number of new cases to reduce. We want to get to less than 100 to 150 cases per year to see a reduction [from what is now taking place],” Dr. Ramsammy said.
But he pointed out that his concern this year is that the rate of infection among the adolescent: 13 to 19 years. “The rate of infection [among this group] is not showing decline…When a 15-year-old tests positive for HIV, he or she did not get infected ‘yesterday’,” the minister said.
“While we see definite signs that there is decline in the other groups, we are not seeing that decline in the adolescents,” the minister said.
According to the minister, this is a group that many countries are showing declining rates of infection in. “But in Guyana and the Caribbean, while we are not seeing an upward surge, we are not seeing a downward swing,” Dr. Ramsammy said.
The minister was prepared to concede that the abstinence programme has not worked. “We in Guyana seem to be on the same trajectory as the developed countries,” he said, adding that the Abstinence component of the ABC (abstain, be faithful, use condoms) strategy was emphasised.
The minister said too that adolescence is the only group in which the females outnumber males. “Are young girls engaging in sex with their peers or with older men?” he asked.
The minister emphasised that despite the disappointing trend, abstinence should still be a priority. He however cautioned that an over-emphasis on abstinence does not recognise the global reality that young people are having sex. “Young people today have more opportunities to engage in sexual activity. They are not as constrained as before. The environment has changed and the temptations are greater,” he said.

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