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But COVID-19 outages in health services threaten progress. PAHO and UNAIDS launch campaign to promote HIV self-testing
Washington DC, November 30 (PAHO) – Annual deaths from AIDS-related diseases decreased by 37% between 2010 and 2019 in Caribbean countries, while annual new infections with the HIV virus decreased by 29% , reported today the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Increased testing and improved lifetime antiretroviral treatment led to a decline in annual deaths from about 11,000 in 2010 to 6,900 in 2019, PAHO said, based on recently available data. The decrease in infections was due to various preventive measures, including the use of medications taken before and after contact with someone with HIV, which are known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis ). The number of infections dropped from about 18,000 in 2010 to 13,000 in 2019.
“In the last decade, the Caribbean countries have made significant progress in controlling HIV and AIDS,” said PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne. “However, the COVID-19 pandemic is now jeopardizing this hard-earned success. We must work harder to move towards the total elimination of AIDS, which causes incalculable human suffering. “
The continuing stigma around HIV and AIDS, as well as unequal access to health services, also deter progress towards eliminating the disease.
The number of HIV diagnoses falls in the first half of 2020
PAHO has evidence that since the pandemic broke out, the number of people getting tested for HIV in both the Caribbean and Latin America has decreased. In the first six months of 2020, there were approximately 4,000 fewer HIV diagnoses in eight Caribbean and Latin American countries (Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Peru, and Saint Lucia) than in the first six months of 2019 The decline in testing means that people with undiagnosed HIV are unaware of their status and are not receiving life-saving antiretroviral treatment, which could expose others to HIV transmission.
“COVID-19 poses a clear challenge for HIV prevention, testing, treatment and healthcare services,” said César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director. “Any slowdown in the provision of these services will leave many vulnerable populations at increased risk of HIV infection and AIDS-related death.”
“Fortunately, there are strategies to respond to these challenges, including self-testing and dispensing several months of medications at a time, reducing the number of visits patients must make to their healthcare providers,” he continued. “But we have to make sure these strategies are being implemented.”
HIV self-test, a strategy to expand the diagnosis
WHO and PAHO recommend self-assessment as a key strategy to achieve the UN goal that 90% of people with HIV know their status. Self-testing, in which people collect their own samples and analyze them, increases patient autonomy, decentralizes HIV services, and creates a demand for HIV testing among those who have not been contacted by other services.
For World AIDS on December 1, PAHO and UNAIDS are launching a broad public information campaign to increase awareness of the availability of self-assessments and, as a result, the demand for them.
In another sign of long-term progress in the Caribbean, the percentage of children born to mothers with HIV who are infected with the virus dropped to 12% in 2019 from 22% in 2010.
The finding coincides with the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and most recently Dominica in 2020. These extraordinary achievements also appear to be threatened due to COVID-19 and must be protected during this phase of intense response to the pandemic.
Progress Against HIV / AIDS
Other recent key findings highlighted by PAHO to coincide with World AIDS Day include:
- The percentage of people with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment increased to 63% in 2019 in the Caribbean, compared to 22% in 2010.
- The percentage of women with HIV receiving lifelong antiretroviral treatment, which reduces the risk of their children becoming infected, increased to 86% in 2019 in the Caribbean, compared to 42% in 2010.
- The percentage of children with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment increased from 42% in 2017 in the Caribbean to 44% in 2019.
- Among people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, 53% have been able to control the amount of virus in their system through antiretroviral treatment.
Approximately 330,000 people in the Caribbean are living with HIV. As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), PAHO is working with Latin American and Caribbean countries to end HIV as a threat to public health by 2030.
