500,000 with HIV/AIDS

“NO ONE deserves to get HIV/AIDS,” stated technical director of the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee Dr Amery Browne, while presenting the increasing and frightening HIV/AIDS statistics for the Caribbean region, including Trinidad and Tobago. At present, the Caribbean region, with over 500,000 reported cases of the disease, is ranked at number two in the world for having the largest number of HIV/ AIDS cases. Dr Browne went on to explain that there are about 14,000 new infections everyday with 95 percent of those infections occurring in low and medium income families. Two thousand of the reported cases are children under 15, 12,000 are persons aged 15 to 49, 50 percent are women and 50 percent are between the ages 15 to 24.

These statistics formed part of Dr Browne’s presentation on the topic “What is HIV/AIDS? — The State of the Epidemic and the National Strategic Plan,” at the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) workshop on “Women in the workplace and HIV/AIDS.” The workshop, which was held at the Premier Quality Services Conference Facility at Macoya yesterday, saw several speakers address various aspects of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the population and workplace. Touching on the impact that the dreaded disease has had on the population of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Browne pointed out that in the last report for the period 2002 to middle of 2003, there were over 4,923 reported cases of HIV/AIDS, with some 3,063 reported deaths and an estimated 20,000 cases of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

Dr Browne noted that there were three main modes of transmission of the disease. These include sexual contact, transmission from mother to child and blood transfusion. Mother to child transmission, he ex-plained, occurred during the birthing process or by breastfeeding. He also explained that a child born to an HIV positive mother usually showed signs of the anti-bodies related to the disease up to 18 months old. He pointed out that at 18 months, the child is tested and if at that stage the HIV anti-bodies are still present, then it is an indication that the child may have contracted the disease from its mother.

He noted that the Caribbean’s main mode of transmission was sexual contact and pointed out that safe sexual lifestyles are a major factor in slowing down the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, he said, the only sure way to stop the disease is abstinence. He noted that there is a saying that “a wedding ring was not a way to ensure safety from HIV/AIDS,” explaining that more and more women are becoming afraid of men because of their sexual habits and promiscuity. Dr Browne also spoke about the discrimination that is often associated with HIV/AIDS. He pointed out that people often look at others and assume they are HIV positive, or spread rumours about someone because of  “street corner gossip.” However, he pointed out that the only sure way to diagnose the disease was by having the ELISA test done, and a second test conducted six months later.

Asked about the possibility of the disease spreading through the use of shaving equipments at the nation’s barbershops, Dr Browne pointed out that no research has been conducted in this area. However, he called on operators of businesses such as barbershops and beauty parlours to exercise caution when using razor blades and other sharp instruments on their customers. Other presenters at the workshop included standards specialist, ILO, PoS, Michael Jan Jankanish; consultant, Supportive Improved Life Centre, Claudette Francis, education and research officer of the BIGWU, Joanne De Freitas and a special drama presentation by the Rapport Youth Information Centre. President of the World Women’s Conference Union Network Inter-national and secretary/treasurer of the Communications Workers of America, Barbara Easterling, also delivered an address at the workshop.