Some HIV patients not receiving treatment in Guyana – NAPS

Although Guyana has been able to reap some successes in combatting challenges associated with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), there are cases where persons diagnosed with this disease have refrained or dropped out of the Public Health Ministry’s treatment plan.

Presently, there are 5,706 persons receiving treatment.
According to the Acting Deputy Programme Manager at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), Dr Nicolette Boatswain, some of those are not on the treatment plan and work is ongoing by public officials to ensure that persons diagnosed with HIV are receiving the necessary treatment.
During a ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day 2019 on Monday, it was revealed that many HIV infected persons have refrained or dropped out of the Public Health Ministry’s treatment plan.
Yet, statistics show that some 100 persons who required treatment are not getting it.
“What we need to strengthen are our efforts are having persons linked into care after they are diagnosed but we find that once we get persons into care they usually are retained and those we have lost we have programmes in place…the lost and follow up initiatives where we go out and look for persons and bring them in back, to find out what the challenges are, find out what the barriers are, and we try to work with them”.
Dr Boatswain related that there is an effective tracking system in place and with the introduction of an e-register of HIV patients, those persons can rest assured that confidentiality is present and taken into all accounts at all stages of the treatment processes.
“The initiatives that we have existing in terms of lost to follow up have shown successful, we have social workers working with us who go out and find the patients, we use the information that they would have provided to us. When we track them, we do not just push them back into the system but we try to understand what the barriers are. As we continue to speak on the enabling environment, what are the barriers and challenges that that patient may be experiencing”.
She added that presently, the “lost and follow up” initiative has been 82 per cent successful in locating and reintegrating HIV patients into the treatment plans that are available.