Guyana achieves first UN HIV 90-90-90 target ahead of 2020 timeline

Sep 26, 2019 News

–allocates $10.9 M to widen response through civil society organizations

Next year will be a very defining milestone for countries around the world. It will be the year that the United Nations [UN] will be gauging the achievements of countries as part of the global effort to end the scourge of AIDS.

Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence

Guyana has been taking this task very seriously and is well on its way to achieving the goal of ending AIDS. Efforts in this regard are being measured by the United Nations 90-90-90 targets.
With an achievement timeline of 2020, the UN has predicted that the world will be well on its way to end AIDS if 90 percent of all people living with HIV know their HIV status; 90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy have viral suppression.
Guyana has been able to achieve the first of the three targets and Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence, was happy to report this.
According to the Minister, “Of the estimated 8,200 people living with HIV in 2018, 93 percent know their status, making Guyana the only Caribbean country to achieve the first 90 of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target ahead of the timeline set for 2020.”
As it relates to the other targets, the Minister said Guyana has been able to ensure, thus far, that 73 percent of persons diagnosed are receiving sustained treatment and 81 percent have achieved viral suppression. With viral suppression, the Minister explained that those infected can no longer transmit the infection to their partners.
But despite the laudable gains, she made it clear that “our task remains challenging even as all stakeholders combine their efforts to accelerate the progress in reducing new infections and AIDS-related deaths in the country.”
Even as she committed to ensuring that her Ministry does not become complacent but rather work assiduously to meet the 90-90-90 in the new year, Minister Lawrence said that “we must target our 15-24 age group and new cases.”
In so doing she said that government will aim to remove all existing bottlenecks and barriers to ensure that the next National Strategic Plan will end AIDS in the country.
In this vein, she said, the Public Health Ministry is making a clarion call to persons who are aware of their status and have not accessed treatment to do so, as this can result in them becoming virally undetectable. “We must express our thanks to our partners whose commitment and support have been unwavering in this our struggle to put a halt to the AIDS epidemic,” said the Minister as she considered that, “Achieving the set targets by 2020 and ending AIDS by 2030 would also require prevention of transmission of HIV from a mother to her baby.”
The elimination of mother to child transmission is a human right issue and Minister Lawrence shared her optimism that Guyana will soon follow in the foots steps of Cuba, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, among others, whose fight have been successful in ensuring that no child is infected with HIV in pregnancy, at birth and during breastfeeding.
“HIV is no longer a death sentence as life-saving drugs are available free of charge. It is now classified as a chronic disease like hypertension, cancer or diabetes. We do not need to stigmatize or discriminate those having the disease. We are a country of love and must demonstrate this love by spreading the message of ‘Know your status’ to our brothers and sisters throughout all our communities,” said the Minister.
Currently, the country’s national responses are coordinated through the National AIDS Programme Secretariat and, according to Minister Lawrence, these have been working very hard to achieve the targets set out in the Ministry’s existing Strategic Plan – HIV Vision 2020. So far, progress made in HIV testing and treatment cascade has been encouraging, said the Minister even as she stressed that “more still needs to be done.”
“Our statistics reveal that there are 8,200 children, adolescents, youths, women and men living with HIV,” said the Minister who announced that of the total number of cases, 500 were new cases recorded in 2018 among key populations and young people.”
Given the still existing threat of the disease, the Ministry has recognized the importance of the complementary role of community systems. With this in mind, Minister Lawrence said that her Ministry has gone ahead to implement social contracting with civil society organizations. Government has provided $10.9 M for 2019 to aid this endeavour and, according to Minister Lawrence, this has by extension made Guyana the first in the Caribbean to implement this approach in funding the work of civil society as a means of sustaining the HIV response while faced with shrinking donor funding.
But Guyana has yet been able to benefit in recent times from Global Fund in the sum of US$5 M, and USAIDS has been supportive to the Ministry’s new social contracting initiative.
“We are committed to our partnerships with all partners including the private sector and community to raise awareness of HIV to ensure that we end AIDS in Guyana by 2030. The Government will ensure that investment is sustained to bring about the desired results,” said Minister Lawrence.
On Monday, Minister Lawrence officially launched World AIDS Day 2019 at a forum held at the Brickdam, Georgetown office of the Pan American Health Organisation. World AIDS Day is observed annually on December 1 around the world and this year it is embracing the theme: “Communities make the difference.”
The theme chosen for this year’s observance, the Minister said, was carefully chosen to recognize the essential role that communities have played and continue to play in the AIDS response at the local, national and international levels.
“Communities contribute to the AIDS response in many different ways. Their leadership and advocacy ensure that the response remains relevant and grounded, keeping people at the centre and leaving no one behind,” the Minister asserted.