Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony has indicated that Guyana has been making steady progress in addressing infectious diseases. 

Citing the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as an example, the Health Minister said 95% of the persons living within HIV in Guyana now know their status, in keeping with the UNAIDS 95-95-95 target.

As of late July 2024, there were close to 9,000 recorded cases of HIV in Guyana.  The majority of the new cases are persons between the ages of 20 and 30. 

“We have 95% of persons know their status, and that is the UNAIDS objective to have at least 95% of persons with HIV knowing their status. So, we have been able to achieve that. In terms of those persons who know their status and are on treatment, that has now increased to at least 75%…and of those who are on treatment, we have 41% of them are virally suppressed. Meaning that they cannot transmit the infection, and that’s a good thing. But we want to work to make sure that everybody who is on treatment, are now virally suppressed,” the Health Minister reported during a recent press conference. 

UNAIDS is aiming to bring an end to the AIDS pandemic by 2030 by having 95% of the people living with HIV know their HIV status; and by having 95% of the people diagnosed with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy (ART). The third target requires that 95% of all cases to be virally suppressed. 

Minister Anthony said the country is well on its way to achieving the UNAIDS targets but stressed the importance of having HIV patients receive the necessary medication. 

“We have the medication, we have all of the things to treat people but we need persons who know their status and who know they need treatment, to come in for treatment. It is not something that we can compulsorily do, they must want to be able to get on treatment. We can’t force them but we have several clinics across the country, we have all the medications to be able to treat them. We have standard protocols how we are treating people and those things are available for every patient that we have,” Minister Anthony said. 

Turning his attention to Tuberculosis (TB), the Health Minister reported that Guyana in 2024 saw a decline in TB cases. 

A total of 331 cases were recorded in 2024 compared to 438 cases in 2023.  He said the Ministry of Health is also doing a lot of work as part of its efforts to tackle Malaria. 

The Ministry of Health diagnosed 24,169 cases of Malaria, and distributed more than 109,000 Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) in 2024. 

“We have done more rapid tests and we have been working closely with miners across the country, so that we can train them, and in their mining camps, if people have fever they would be able to diagnose them because we are giving them the kits and we are giving them the treatment,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the case of Hepatitis C, the Ministry of Health said 44 persons have been cured, while 68 persons are receiving treatment. 

Related posts:

Guyana recorded 238 new cases of HIV in 2023; Health Ministry encourages early start of treatment Health Ministry worried about new COVID variant possibly making its way to Guyana Guyana’s fight against HIV further challenged by COVID-19 pandemic -Health officials Health Minister sounds alarm of steady climb in new COVID-19 cases; Active cases near 1700