Guyana fighting HIV/AIDS while grappling with COVID-19 pandemic – Ramsammy

Former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has urged Guyanese not to lose focus of the fight against HIV/AIDS even in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He made the call on Tuesday during a Worlds AIDS Day forum organised by the Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Health Authority.
Guyana, he said, still has a far way to go in addressing HIV/AIDS even as we try to cope with a new pandemic.
Even as Guyana joins the rest of the world in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is still fighting a four-decade-old pandemic called HIV/AIDS, Ramsammy noted.
Against this backdrop, the former Health Minister urged that we do not lose focus of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Speaking at the virtual candlelight parade to observe World AIDS Day in Region Six, Dr Ramsammy said there is an opportunity to ensure that that the fight against COVID-19 does not cause the fight against HIV/AIDS to be pushed off track. Comparing the factors which are driving the new pandemic, the former Health Minister explained that the very factors which are responsible for the new pandemic were the ones which we faced in the 1980s and which created the germinating ground for HIV/AIDS.
“Poverty played an important role in HIV, we see it being played out today with COVID-19. The fact that people were hesitant to get tested because of stigma, we see it today with COVID-19 – the gender disparity, the existence of vulnerable and key groups, the impact on COVID-19, we saw it with HIV and AIDS,” Ramsammy said.
All of these which had contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS are still present today.
“When we look at the fact that Guyana still is grappling with whether same-sex relationships is something that we should decriminalise, it shows that even though we have gotten so far, we still in any respects are stuck in the 1980s and that is preventing us from effectively ending AIDS right now and that is what is contributing to things like COVID-19 and other pandemics.”
Ramsammy, who is an advisor to the current Health Minister, urged both the Government and citizens of Guyana to commit and to follow through on the commitment that every citizen should be viewed as equal in Guyana.
He said the time has also come for Guyana to stop treating certain sections of society as second-class citizens. Ramsammy noted that the LGBTQ community is one such while explaining that this section of the community has been greatly affected by HIV/AIDS.
Because that community is forced to assume anonymous existence in our society, pandemics like COVID-19 also have an imbalance and its impact on that community.
“Our transgender sisters and brothers have in particular been affected and so, when we speak for justice for all, when we speak resiliency or impact of global solidarity and sharing responsibility and when we speak loosely about equality, we must put our money where our mouth is,” Ramsammy advocated.
World AIDS Day was observed under the theme: “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic; Resilience and Impact.”
Guyana has a goal of ending all new HIV infections by 2030.