At present there are 11,500 people living with HIV in T&T. Those figures, given during a workshop held by the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/Aids in Port-of-Spain last week, do not give a complete picture. While progress has been made in treatment and life expectancy has increased significantly–from seven to 24 years–for HIV-positive people, complacency and ignorance are still dangerous and widespread.
There must be no let up in efforts at risk-prevention. Although a diagnosis of HIV is no longer a death sentence, successfully living with the disease requires the people know how to protect themselves and others and have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) to help them live longer, healthier lives.
A great deal of work still has to be done to provide all infected people with ART and to achieve the objective of making new HIV infections and deaths due to the virus a rare occurrence.
Ahead of World Aids Day, which will be observed tomorrow, the facts of the disease as it affects life in T&T must be highlighted, if only to increase awareness and promote more responsible behaviour. This is also an occasion to condemn the stigma and discrimination that still affect people living with HIV and their loved ones.
T&T is among the five Caribbean countries that account for 96 per cent of all people living with HIV in the region. The others are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
Figures covering the period 1983-2014 show a cumulative total of 27,207 new HIV infections in T&T, with 6,589 Aids cases and 4,167 Aids related deaths. All regions of the country are affected by the epidemic but in 2014 the highest number of new cases were recorded in St George, Caroni and Victoria.
Although progress has been made in testing and treatment, this country is located in the region of the world with the second highest HIV prevalence globally behind sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts at tackling the epidemic are complicated by socio-cultural practices and attitudes in this part of the world, including gender inequities and gender-based violence and other challenges related to sexuality, including the homophobia that is so deeply entrenched in many Caribbean societies.
It must be underscored that HIV/Aids remains one of the most destructive pandemics in history and since it was first identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of the virus.
At present, according to statistics from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 36.7 million people are living with HIV. About 17 million people living with HIV are currently taking ART but a similar number are unable to access treatment. In addition there are still too many people–approximately 14 million–who are unaware of their HIV positive status because they have not been tested.
This year the mission is to achieve a world free of Aids. This objective has been underscored by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon who said in his World AIDS Day message: "With the right investments, the world can get on the fast-track to achieve our target of 30 million people on treatment by 2030."
No one should be left behind in the struggle to end the epidemic by 2030. In T&T, that means that the Government should be held to its commitment to comprehensive, integrated, multi-sectoral responses to HIV and Aids, with continued engagement of state agencies, the private sector, civil society and academia.