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| Sunday, 4 December 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Prevention and treatment of aids : Cuba holds prominent position by Iris Armas Padrino Care for people with HIV-AIDS in Cuba goes far beyond medical treatment, since a comprehensive system is in place that takes into account the patient's most diverse needs and, on many occasions, also his/her families'. Programs aimed at prevention and health promotion are very important, since the treatment offered to HIV positives on the island begins from the very moment the diagnosis is confirmed. The National Center for the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (ITS) and HIV-AIDS began to operate in the 1990s. It offers specialized consultancy, evaluates and gives continuity to actions developed at the provincial, municipal and neighborhood levels. Every five years, the center studies the sexual conduct of the population, particularly the use of condoms, to determine the effectiveness of the prevention campaigns and the fight against the pandemic. Cuba is the only country in the world with a program to fight AIDS, which is considered a health problem, rather than a dilemma of people with a reprehensible life. This has allowed Cuba to have strict control of every patient. Dr. Jos‚ Joanes Fiol is a member of the team of experts working in this program of the Ministry of Public Health. He explained that here in Cuba there is a thorough control of every blood transfusion and blood derivatives, as well as an effective program to prevent mother-to-child infection with the HIV virus. The epidemiologist recalled that although the program was officially implemented in 1986, three years before, in 1983, a governmental commission was set up, referred to as the Working Group to Confront and Fight against AIDS. By then, Cuba had already placed a ban on the import of blood and its derivatives from nations where there were reports of AIDS cases, and every hospital island wide implemented the system of epidemiological control. As of 1986, Cuba began to particularly investigate people returning from abroad. The study to identify the antibody to HIV was later extended to include pregnant women and people infected with other sexually-transmitted diseases. Prevention and epidemiological control Cuba has a network of laboratories, located in provincial centers, blood banks and hospitals island wide. The network is under the control and supervision of an entity of national reference, stated Dr. Fiol. The Cuban AIDS program has four main components: prevention, epidemiological control, research and laboratories. The world famous Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), located in Havana, is a center of national reference for this medical treatment. We are now working toward decentralizing the care, so that AIDS patients can receive treatment in any hospital nationwide, said the health official. In Cuba, AIDS patients could be hospitalised or receive treatment through the outpatient system, which groups most AIDS patients. There are hospitals to that end currently operating in 13 of Cuba's 14 provinces. The health institution located in Santiago de las Vegas, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, is a center of national reference in the field. In every institution, AIDS patients are treated by multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. Patients are also taught a course entitled: "Learning How to Live with HIV." On the other hand, those in the outpatient system are treated under the Family Doctors program in their respective communities, with regular checkups at hospitals and also at the Havana-based Pedro Kouri Institute. All of them are also provided with a food supplement that they receive totally free of charge. Highly effective antiretroviral therapy In 1996, Cuba began to import and use triple-therapy drugs or antiretroviral therapy to treat AIDS patients. By 2001, the island was already producing effective generic drugs, which today guarantee the coverage of all patients, thus significantly reducing mortality and hospitalization rates, while also improving the patients' quality of life. Although these drugs don't kill the virus, if administered regularly, immune deterioration can be delayed and the emergence of opportunistic infections prevented. Unlike other parts of the world, where therapy is accessible only to those who could afford it -in some cases, costing more than 10,000 dollars annually- in Cuba more than 1500 people are currently undergoing triple-therapy using Cuban generic drugs totally free-of-charge. The Caribbean island produces seven generic drugs, which according to scientific studies are comparable to similar drugs produced by the world's leading companies in the field. Cooperation with other peoples Cuba is ready and willing to confront the AIDS pandemic anywhere in the world. Evidence of this is the work being developed by Cuban doctors in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. In those regions, infant mortality from AIDS has been significantly reduced, as well as the number of newborns with AIDS - this by treating their infected mothers in a timely manner. From 1986 to the end of 2005, 6 782 people were infected with the HIV virus in Cuba - 2 784 of them developed AIDS. Those infected were predominantly men (80,4%), particularly men who have sex with other men. Cuba has the lowest infection rate in all of Latin America and one of the lowest in the world, according to the United Nations AIDS Program (UNAIDS). Certainly, Cuba did not wait for the first AIDS cases to appear to begin working toward preventing the disease from becoming a health problem on the island. It should be noted that over 30 million HIV tests have been conducted in Cuba, using the Ultra Micro-analytical System (SUMA), created on the island. The fact that Cuba has the region's lowest infection rate is due to the prevention campaign, which begins in primary education and involves society as a whole, government and non-government organizations and institutions alike. The AIDS pandemic is spreading at an alarming rate throughout the planet, where there are currently 40,3 million people infected with the disease. Studies conducted by UNAIDS in 2005 revealed 5 million new cases that year alone. Of these, 3.1 million died from AIDS, which registers the highest infection rates in Third World nations. Although AIDS threatens everyone, regardless of their race, sex, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, nationality or socioeconomic level, the specific conditions of some populations make them more vulnerable to the infection. In that sense, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America -especially the Caribbean- and Southeast Asia report increased infection rates. The Caribbean area reports the world's second highest infection rate (2.3 percent), after Sub Saharan Africa. At a time when entire nations and broad geographical areas are threatened with extermination, the infection rate in Cuba is 0.07 percent -in other words, 8.6 lower than the following nation. This reaffirms Cuba's prominent position in the world prevention of and fight against AIDS. (AIN) |
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