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HIV/AIDS Challenges In The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

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AIDS Officials Challenged:
By Macushla N. Pinder -
Nassau, Bahamas:


Despite continued pleas, the challenges faced by officials of the National AIDS Programme have remained the same over the years.

According to Director of the National AIDS Programme Nurse Rosamae Bain, some of those infected with HIV have fallen down on their regular three-month CD4 and viral load check-ups, a move that could only work against them.

"What happens here is that the doctors and other healthcare providers are checking to see what your immune system," she said.

"So we need to ensure that people who know they are HIV positive to please come in. And that’s why we do the public service announcements. It’s so people can get to know their status."

Regular three month CD4 and viral load check-ups are particularly important considering that the Bahamas government spends more than a million dollars annually on antiretroviral medication for approximately 1,600 people living with HIV in The Bahamas.

HIV treatment usually involves three drugs taken together.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that in most cases, a first line regimen should consist of two drugs.

In The Bahamas, the price of this drug regimen cost just under $500 per person annually.

But the antiretroviral drug combination could change.

"We need to get the message out that every single Bahamian must know their HIV status. And this means that people have to understand the ABC’s of HIV prevention," Nurse Bain said.

"The first thing is abstinence. We have a wonderful programme called Focused on Youth where we encourage and provide skills to our young people so that they would delay the initiation of sexual activity. We also stress being faithful. If you have one uninfected partner, there would not be that risk of you becoming HIV infected. Lastly, if you will not abstain or refuse to be faithful, for goodness sake, condomized."

Health officials have long preached the message of everyone abstaining, but they accept the reality that sexual activity is occurring.

"Our figures show based on the teen pregnancy rate, the young people with HIV. And our young girls are outnumbering our young guys two to three in some age groups, Nurse Bain said.

The most recent data compiled by health officials confirmed that there was a "slight" increase in the number of people who tested positive for HIV during the first quarter of this year compared to last year.

Up to the end of March 2008, 88 new cases were reported; 51 of those infected were male and 37 were female.

The first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in The Bahamas in 1983.

The victim was reportedly a female in her early 30s. Health officials only realized the woman suffered from HIV/AIDS two years later.

In 1988, the National AIDS Foundation was formed.

Between August 1985 and March 31, 2008, a total of 11,303 people tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

According to Nurse Bain, of this figure, 5,600 people tested positive for HIV while the remaining 5,703 went on to develop full-blown AIDS.

At last count, 5,582 people were living in The Bahamas with HIV compared with the 1,767 infected with AIDS, a total of 7,349.

September 13, 2008

September 13, 2008 | 7:15 PM Comments  0 comments

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