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Prevention, control: Show of red palms and more to drive home AIDS message
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Colourful but very important will be the activities surrounding the commemoration of World AIDS Day next Thursday, December 1, sending a strong message on prevention as well as control of this disease.
While the ‘Road-map to End AIDS by 2025’ will be the crucial action-plan which will be launched amidst a large crowd at Campbell Park in Colombo on Thursday, among the other documents to be made public will be the ‘National HIV Testing Guidelines’ using innovative approaches.
With Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne as chief guest and high-level health officials including the Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Palitha Mahipala and the Director of the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), Dr. Sisira Liyanage leading a walk from the Health Ministry to Campbell Park, more than 2,500 people will gather there at 10.30 a.m.
Joining the walk will be the World Health Organization’s Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Jacob Kumaresan and United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Representative to Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenaler.
Clad in T-shirts and caps in black and red, three cycle parades will also head for Campbell Park from Panadura, Ja-ela and Biyagama, making people aware along the way about the Human-Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which could lead to the Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
This year, the participants will not only sport the signature ‘red ribbon’ which is the internationally-recognized symbol of the struggle around HIV/AIDS and the solidarity for and commitment to fight the disease, but also a raised red palm. For, this year’s theme is ‘Hands up for Prevention’.
The cycle parades will make stops along the way, to distribute leaflets informing the people what HIV/AIDS is all about.
Pointing out that an intensified campaign of testing is being carried out from November 20 to December 1, in addition to the usual screening done throughout the year, Consultant Venereologist Dr. G. Weerasinghe of the NSACP (National Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome Control Programme) stressed that Sri Lanka remains a low HIV prevalence country. ‘Low prevalence’ means that the number of those affected by HIV/AIDS is below 1% among pregnant women and 5% among high-risk behaviour groups in a particular country.
The 10 testing sites in Colombo and the suburbs in collaboration with Colombo Municipal Council and other relevant health authorities are the Fort Railway Station, the Colombo harbour area, the Mount Lavinia beach and town area, Slave Island, Kiribathgoda, Meethotamulla, Nugegoda, Kaduwela, Mattakkuliya and Maharagama, he told the Sunday Times.
To make all groups of people, especially the young, aware about HIV/AIDS, the NSACP will also use social media through the development of a Facebook page, while displaying messages linked to HIV prevention in Sinhala, Tamil and English on digital screens at Lipton Circus near the National Hospital and Thurstan Road, Thunmulla for a month. The district STD clinics, meanwhile, have also coordinated many awareness programmes across the country.
Even though the world’s target under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the ending of AIDS is 2030, Sri Lanka has moved the goal-post forward, according to Dr. Weerasinghe.
It is Consultant Epidemiologist Dr. Sriyakanthi Beneragama of the NSACP who deals with the current situation of HIV/AIDS in the country, at a media briefing on Tuesday, having explained that the theme of the 29th World AIDS Day is ‘Hands up for HIV Prevention’.
Looking at the progression of the disease in an infected person, she says that it may take 1 to 12 years, after the virus enters the body for the symptoms of AIDS to manifest. Someone infected with HIV as well as a person living with AIDS can pass on the virus to anyone through risky behaviour. HIV is transmitted through body fluids, mostly blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast-milk.
The transmission could
take place through:
* Unprotected sexual contact (intercourse, anal sex or oral sex) with an infected person (either same sex – homo or opposite sex — hetero)
* From an infected mother to her baby
* Through blood or blood product transfusions or injecting drug use with contaminated needles and syringes. Sri Lanka’s screening of blood and blood products under the National Blood Policy ensures that people get safe blood through transfusions.
HIV does not spread:
* By touching or holding hands with an infected person
* By sharing food or playing together
* By using cups, plates, towels, phones or clothes etc., used by an infected person
* Through coughing, phlegm or using toilet seats
* Through insects such as mosquitoes or bed-bugs
“Once a person is infected, they will remain infected for the rest of their lives,” says Dr. Beneragama, explaining that medications (anti-retrovirals) are available to prolong life but do not cure the disease. “Those who are infected, with or without symptoms, are capable of infecting others.”
Pointing out that a significant group “driving” the HIV epidemic in Asia is men who have sex with men (MSM), she says that they represent a major source of infections. The national estimates of the MSM population in Sri Lanka in 2013 ranged from 6,547 to 8,554, with the average number of male partners of each being 9 per year. The other “drivers” are female sex workers and their clients (national estimates for 2013 were a range from 12,329 to 15,935 operating on average three to five days a week) and injecting drug users.
The take-home message from Dr. Beneragama is: HIV is a chronic viral infection with no known cure; HIV-infected people become vulnerable to opportunistic infections; and without treatment HIV progresses to symptomatic disease and AIDS.
| Fighting new infections together Reiterating that Sri Lanka has achieved much in the battle against HIV/AIDS since the first patient was diagnosed in 1987, NSACP Coordinator for the ‘Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV’ Programme, Dr. Lilani Rajapaksa, urged everyone to get together to prevent new infections. In 2015, there were 235 new infections and there might be more, with some not being aware they are infected. Those who know they are living with HIV will be careful so as not to spread the disease but others may not know and can spread the disease unwittingly. “Be careful of unsafe sexual behavioural practices,” she said. Sri Lanka aims to achieve the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV by the end of next year (2017), Dr. Rajapaksa told the media briefing on Tuesday. According to her the estimate of children with HIV in 2015 was 100. The new cases reported in 2015 were 7 and this year, up to the third quarter 2. She said that a major problem that we need to face is how these children acquired the HIV infection. Was it because the mother did not know or did not think that she was affected by HIV? If the mother is affected by HIV, then there is a chance that the child too will be affected, with HIV transmission occurring during pregnancy or at birth. Detailing the steps to prevent mother-to-child transmission, she said that they include HIV testing of expectant mothers during the first-booking visit; anti-retroviral treatment (ART) as soon as possible if found to be affected by HIV, obstetric management according to the guidelines, infant-feeding counselling and ART for the newborn. With HIV testing coverage among pregnant women from 2012-2015 rising to 70%, the target by the end of 2017 is coverage of 95% among pregnant women. Since 2011, all babies of mothers who received services have been HIV negative, she says, adding that early diagnosis and early services will eliminate the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. “Let no child be born with HIV.” |