…Minister Ramsammy warns against being put off by final document
STAKEHOLDERS involved in the preparation of the 2010-2015 Guyana HIV 2010 Estimates for HIV Epidemic in Guyana, were yesterday commended by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who acknowledged the hard work they have been putting into the preparation of the document which is now in its preliminary stages. The minister however cautioned them against eventually cowering and dissociating themselves from anything contained in the final document, in the event projections or numbers are at variance with those of international agencies or external parties coming up with figures, based on scenarios in other developing countries.

Dr. Ramsammy made these remarks yesterday as he addressed stakeholders at 2010-2015 Guyana HIV Estimates Consensus Meeting at Grand Coastal Hotel, East Coast Demerara.  At the meeting, the Ministry of Health, through the National AIDS Programnme Secretariat (NAPS), headed by Dr. Shanti Singh, presented the Preliminary Estimates for the HIV Epidemic in Guyana.

The minister cautioned that the approach to be taken when dealing with such matters should not be on the assumption that ‘one-size-fits-all’. He said that the international agencies, when using their mathematical formula, should take into consideration that there will be special circumstances needing different approaches. He was adamant that very often, information has been documented by external sources on Guyana’s HIV situation, presenting inflated numbers in relation to its HIV prevalence, which turn out to be totally inaccurate. Clearly, those documenting the information did not seek recourse to local sources, or ignored the findings of painstaking and time consuming investigations done by local health workers and demographers, he said.

Dr. Ramsammy told of past experiences in which mathematical formula was used, ignoring data by local health workers. He said, while the mathematical formula is good, one needs to be careful.

Noting that numbers in the Estimate for Guyana’s HIV epidemic would not have been concocted, he drew attention to the fact that the team working on the document included myriad stakeholders, including representatives of the UNAIDS- family, adding, “I hope the results we get will be embraced by all… I hope they [the various stakeholders] do not disown ours and use wild numbers they get from elsewhere. He said the ministry’s experience is that sometimes stakeholders ignore and abandon the ministry as though it had done everything on its own, independent of their views.

Dr. Ramsammy said that, in order to have a good idea of the status of the epidemic in the country, it is important to know how many people are already affected and how many people are at risk, hence the importance of careful study and accurate documentation, guaranteed only by those in-country. He pointed out the dangers of both under-estimating and over-estimating numbers.
“Under-estimating our numbers put us at great risk, [of falling short of needed resources], but over-estimating will skew our response and create neglect in some areas. This is why monitoring and evaluation is so important,” the minister affirmed.

Albeit, Ramsammy outlined that, as Guyana continues to roll out its HIV response, much has been achieved – not only in terms of Prevention of HIV, but treating (people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and keeping them alive. “The strategy will continue, but as we continue, we must recognize that the fight is not only against a virus, but against the social determinants that are a driving force and create a nurturing environment for the virus,” he warned.

At the Consensus Meeting, the Draft of Preliminary Estimate and the assumptions used in developing the numbers was handed over to the stakeholders by the Ministry of Health for further study and review.  Feed- back received from the stakeholders who would have studied the document in the ensuing weeks, will be documented and another meeting held later this year before a final document is arrived at, for submission to the Global United Nations next July.

Stakeholders include the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy; Programme Manager of the NAPS, Dr. Shanti Singh; and Monitoring and Evaluation Officers and HIV Programme Co-ordinators; representatives of UNAIDS, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization  (PAHO/WHO); the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); GHARP; USAID and civil society agencies.

The team of stakeholders recently travelled to Trinidad and Tobago where they joined other Caribbean teams for training to adequately equip them for the task being undertaken.