Cure for AIDS on the horizon

IN AN impromptu speech at the opening of an HIV/AIDS Drop-in Centre in San Fernando recently, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he believes with proper research and analysis a cure for AIDS can be found one day. To this end, he said, Government was holding discussions on establishment of a research lab to look into tropical herbal  medicine as a potential cure for the disease. The function was also addressed by Social Services Delivery Minister Christine Kangaloo, who said the latest statistics on the virus revealed over 500 new cases of persons with HIV and 69 with full-blown AIDS. Kangaloo said there was an urgent need to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. She also said  during the last quarter of 2003, there were 18,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS — a ratio of one in every 74 persons.

“Given the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among persons in their productive years there is every reason to be concerned about an imminent and crippling collapse of human capital and productivity,” Kangaloo said.  She said for this reason  Government has given highest priority to containment of the spread of the disease. “Government has gone further and obtained the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme, the European Commission and World Bank in implementation of a five-year national HIV/AIDS strategic plan developed through the expertise of the Health Economic Unit of the University of the West Indies.”

The strategic plan is to be implemented by a National AIDS Coordinated Committee. Some of the objectives of the strategic plan, Kangaloo said, were to reduce infections in the country, mitigate the negative effect of HIV/AIDS on persons infected and affected, promote safe and healthy sexual behaviour, promote healthy sexual attitudes, reduce mother to child transmission, increase the population’s knowledge of the disease, reduce the probability of post-exposure infection, improve management and control of sexually transmitted infection and improve access to treatment. The plan is expected to have a survey and research component which will strengthen survey systems for sexually transmitted infections.