Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 17, 2012 News
There will be no compromising in the quality of testing when the annual national testing activities commence on November 29. This assertion was yesterday made by Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme, Dr. Shanti Singh, as she officially unveiled plans for a scaled-down testing drive, which will serve as a prelude to World AIDS Day celebration.
World AIDS Day, which is observed globally on December 1, will have as its theme this year, ‘Getting to Zero’.
According to Dr Singh, premised on the need to ensure that there is a high standard of operation, “there will be a strict and high level of confidentially as you get tested. These two important parameters will be closely monitored throughout the initiative,” she asserted yesterday.
The testing drive will be supported by so-called celebrities in the persons of Olympic runner, Winston George; second place winner at ‘Ride for life’ 2012; Paul De Nobrega; Miss United Nations 2012, Soyini Fraser; Miss Guyana/Universe 2012, Ruqayyah Boyer, and Miss Guyana Renaissance 2012, Dr. Vivienne Mitchell.
They along with the Health Minister and UNAIDS Country Director, Dr. Roberto Bant Campos, were ceremoniously tested to emphasise the importance of knowing one’s status.
Referring to the initiative as a very important one, Dr. Singh said that the recruited sports personalities and pageant queens are expected to act as voluntary role models and are therefore expected to encourage others to know their status.
“They are being tested today (yesterday) as an example for many of those persons who we would want to get tested during the initiative,” said Dr. Singh.
Over the past five years, the annual national testing drive had lasted for five days, with the activity allowing for more than 40,000 individuals to be tested last year.
The three-day testing activity, which will be conducted under the theme ‘Zero Stigma, Get Tested’, would in fact be different from the customary testing drive since there will be no VCT sites as in previous years.
The plan, according to Dr. Singh, is to undertake outreaches and have mobile setups with a view of taking the service to the community. “We want to go to the workplaces and places of gatherings such as market places, the City Mall and other places to allow people to be tested.”
She anticipates that a significant number of young people will seek to know their status when the testing drive commences.
Dr. Singh revealed yesterday too that Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) has remained one of the key cornerstones which has allowed for the evolution of the whole concept of treatment and prevention of the HIV/AIDS. And in recognition of the fact that there can only be two outcomes when a person is tested (positive or negative), she alluded to the crucial role of VCT as the main avenue to achieve the goals attached to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“If you are HIV negative we will work with you on all of the risk reduction strategies, making sure that that individual remains HIV negative and if you are HIV positive we will work with that individual to make sure that that person gets into the care and treatment programme and get managed appropriately,” said Dr. Singh.
This move is designed to ensure that there are no new infections. An imitation testing drive was orchestrated yesterday, complete with Counsellors and Testers, with a view of “ensuring that people are given all assurance that certain things will happen during this testing initiative,” Dr. Singh informed.
Guyana HIV response was kicked into motion in 1987 when the first AIDS case was diagnosed and “our response has really evolved over the years in many ways,” she stressed.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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