As Guyana prepares to join the rest of the world on Monday in observing World AIDS Day, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, has sounded the alarm over the steep increase in new HIV cases in the country.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. According to the Health Minister, for this year alone, Guyana has recorded 449 new cases of HIV, adding that there are currently over 10,000 HIV affected persons living in Guyana. The statistics are worrying for Health Officials, and Dr. Anthony said it is even more worrying because of the large amount of information on prevention that is now readily available.

“In the past year here in Guyana, we would have diagnosed at least 449 new infections and again, many of this could have been prevented if we get people to understand how to prevent these infections. These statistics have been compiled by UNAIDS and they are made available so that people can assess, countries can assess how well they have been doing or not do”, he said.

Dr. Anthony made the comments while speaking at a National Workplace Policy event.

He said the world has come a long way in preventing the spread of HIV with tools and lots of educational work being repeatedly done to clip the spread. He said but with all of that work being done, there are still 4.8 million people living in the world with HIV. In the Caribbean, there are more than 340,000 persons living with HIV.

“Now, some time ago, we would have set a lofty goal of eliminating HIV as a public health threat by 2030. And by 2025, if we are going to be on that trajectory, by this year, we should have been able across the globe to achieve 90, 90, 90. And then you carry it up a little bit to 95. And eventually by 2030, we should have been able to eliminate this as a threat. But when you look around the world, that’s not what is happening, because many countries where they have had lots of cases, there are still persons that cannot access ARVs for their treatment”, he stated.

With many countries around the world being dependent on foreign interventions for treatment and funding for HIV/AIDS awareness and education, the Health Minister said Guyana is extremely fortunate because programmes here do not depend on foreign funding.

He said the local programmes have been locally funded for the past several years and are run by the Government, explaining that medication as well as protection are readily available.

However, he noted, the work continues to better inform and educate persons to take better care of their health and to protect themselves.

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