$900M HIV allocation will expand PrEP programme – Health Minister

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has said that strategies were underway to expand the Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services , supported by the $900 million budgetary allocation that was set aside for the HIV programme.
Guyana is aiming to achieve the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) “90-90-90 target”, which seeks to have 90 per cent of people living with HIV become aware of their infection, 90 per cent of the people diagnosed with HIV gain access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) and 90 per cent of those on treatment achieve having undetectable levels of HIV in their blood.
“We want to accelerate this process of getting more people on treatment and to get more people virally suppressed. With that in mind, the allocations that we have received, a lot of that would go in the direction of providing adequate amounts of ARVs (Antiretroviral treatment) and to make sure that the patients are receiving the ARVs… Starting from this year, we will be extending our pre-exposure prophylaxis programme to cover anyone who is at risk. That is something that is going to be new,” the Minister outlined on Thursday.
The previous Government had started a programme of offering these medications to persons who were in relationships with HIV-positive persons. However, Dr Anthony said they were moving to expand the service to anyone who feels they are at risk.
“We want to extend that so that anyone who feel that they’re at risk would be able to come into one of our clinics and receive the pre-exposure prophylaxis medication. That is something that has been recommended by PAHO/WHO, UNAIDS and many of the international bodies that have been working on HIV because they see this as one of the most effective ways in reducing HIV transmission,” he noted.
The Minister further noted that PrEP is shown to work in persons who consistently take the medication based on the guidelines – that is, they would not contract the virus.
Earlier this year, it was announced that HIV self-testing would be rolled out, and Dr Anthony said that while some may be fearful, it presents an advantage for greater privacy for the individuals. Moreover, other countries have not detected any of the concerns which have been raised.
He explained, “The research and findings from other countries where this is being implemented has not shown any of these fears or things that people would envisage has happened. In fact, it allows people in the privacy of their own home to be able to do these tests, check their status. Once they know, then they would probably come into the clinic and get it verified and further actions can be taken.”
Currently, the National AIDS Programme Secretariat and other stakeholders are developing a strategy to materialise this self-testing mechanism. It will be implemented after the Budget debates when kits are procured. These initiatives fall under the new strategic plan that ends in 2025, which also focuses on HIV/TB coinfections. (G13)