569 people back on HIV treatment

A total of 569 people who were tested HIV positive and had dropped off treatment are now back on antiretrovirals, and 70 per cent of all tested positive in recent years now have their viral loads suppressed to the point of stopping the transmission of the virus.

“When we took office, our figures were abysmal,” Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said at the launch of the medical outreach Treat All Programme yesterday at the Medical Research Foundation, Queen’s Park West, Port of Spain. The outreach team was also in San Fernando yesterday and will head to Sangre Grande next week. The team visited Tobago on Tuesday.

There are 11,000 people living with HIV in this country.

On taking office in 2015, Deyalsingh said, 60 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status, 50 per cent were on treatment and 40 per cent, or less than half who tested positive, had their viral loads suppressed. That figure is now 70/65/70 he said. The programme, a medical outreach being undertaken by a team of clinicians from the foundation in collaboration with the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), is a country initiative to achieve the UN target of 90/90/90 by the year 2020 for all people living with HIV.

The 90/90/90/ target aim is for 90 per cent of people living with HIV to know their status, 90 per cent to be on treatment and 90 per cent to have their viral loads suppressed to the point where transmission of the disease is no longer possible. The other UN milestone, Deyalsingh said, is that the world must be free of HIV/AIDS by 2030. His vision, he said, is for TT to be the first country in the western hemisphere to achieve its 90/90/90 target by 2020.

When this Government took office, he said, they understood the gravity of the HIV/AIDS problem facing the nation.

There was a lack of resources and TT was on the verge of losing the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding.

“2010 to 2015 were barren years as far as the programme for HIV/ AIDS was concerned,” he said.

For reasons unknown, he said, the last government did not access PEPFAR funding and “let millions of dollars of grant funding, not loan funding, free money, go to waste.”

With the help of former US ambassador John Estrada and CDC prevention specialist Dr Nyla Lyons, he said, they were able to access a US$250,000 ($1.5 million) grant which was made available in May this year. An analysis of reasons why the 569 people had dropped off treatment, he said, included lack of funds for transportation, nutrition and drugs shortage. The transportation issue was solved with the foundation buying Public Transportation Services Corporation bus tickets and providing nutritional support. In dealing with the antiretrovirals, Deyalsingh said, the ministry partnered with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for the purchase of antiretrovirals and was able to “not only buy more drugs, have a consistent supply, but save $70 million in the process by using the PAHO Strategic Fund and bypassing” NIPDEC’s tender process. Among those present at the launch were US Embassy Charge D’ Affaires, John McIntrye who reaffirmed the US Government’s commitment to support the TT Government in its ongoing efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS through the PEPFAR and through the CDC.

Also present was the foundation’s managing director Dr Jeffrey Edwards who said people were coming forward for testing and accepting treatment once diagnosed. The hours of treatment, he said, has also been extended from 3pm pm to 6pm to accommodate working people among others.