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…as 3,500 continues to access ARV treatmentHaving battled the challenges associated with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) for more than three decades,Wholesale Jerseys Cheap, the Ministry of Health is now boasting stabilisation of the disease. At least this is according to Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), Dr. Shanti Singh.Dr. Shanti SinghDr. Singh assured that “we have done the best under the circumstances that we have” even as she stressed that “there is still so much more to be done. The more you do the more you see that there is much more to be done,” she intimated.She said that based on notifications that come into the Ministry about 75 per cent of the new cases are within the age range of 25 and 49 years suggesting that those infected are still within the productive age range. She noted that “we keep tabs on the younger population because that proportion of cases that we have seen remains the highest,Cheap Stitched Jerseys,” the NAPS Manager noted.At the moment there are just over 4,000 HIV infected individuals registered with the national HIV care and treatment programme with some 3,500 of those accessing anti-retroviral treatment, according to Dr. Singh.Stabilisation of the disease is not only linked to efforts such as the national week of testing,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, which was designed to encourage persons to know their status and by extension reduce the level of associated stigma and discrimination,NFL Jerseys Supply, but according to the NAPS Manager it is also linked to a very high quality of service.“We are confident that the persons who are a part of our programme are receiving the best service that we can offer; we know this because we have been measuring the quality of care offered,” said an optimistic Dr. Singh.The service offered does not only include the availability of treatment but also education and counselling sessions.Measuring the quality of care is in fact not a new feature of the programme as,Cheap China Jerseys, according to Dr. Singh, “we have always done that through an estimation process.” This process is done using a software in collaboration with UNAIDS and we have seen stabilisation both in terms of doing the modelling and reports coming to the Ministry…so there is no doubt that there is stabilisation.”Dr. Singh said that a number of national programmes are currently being undertaken and will serve to, within the New Year, give an even clearer picture of the achievements gained. “So when we do our next round of surveillance we will see what progress we have made and how we need to modify our programme to make sure that we have the needful responses.”Among the programmes that are poised to yield results is one which will focus on those groups that are at high risk of contracting the disease including Men who have Sex with Men and female Commercial Sex Workers.“Our focus now is on those groups that are at risk because of certain behaviour practices so we will be able to better understand what is going on among such groups as it relates to the HIV infection rate.”Based on NAPS’s HIV prevalence data,Cheap Jerseys Paypal, Dr. Singh said that it can be safely deduced that the MSM group is the most at risk accounting for 21 per cent of those infected. This group is followed by the female Commercial Sex Workers group which accounts for 16 per cent as at the end of 2009.However, Dr. Singh remained resolute that the prevalence of the disease across the country has generally been stabilised over the last five to six years since according to her “we have done a lot of work and we have already designed interventions to continue to target those populations (at risk).”Pic name Dr Shanti SinghCaption: Dr. Shanti Singh |
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