EDITORIAL: HIV messages still relevant

Just a few years ago, reports indicated that Barbados was one of the countries in the Caribbean closest to achieving control of its HIV epidemic.

At that time, the country was being validated by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for its efforts at eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV. It was also noted that Barbados was also on track to achieving the 90–90–90 targets of 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment, having suppressed viral loads. It was however noted that to reach the Fast-Track Targets, the country would have to change behaviours amongst men, who were said to be less likely to get tested early and who too often seek medical assistance late.

Whilst there is the view that a lot of the heavy programming which occurred a few years back has somewhat eased off, there is still the need to keep in the minds of Barbadians, the need to adequately protect themselves against contraction of HIV/AIDS. Even in the midst of our present COVID-19 pandemic, we must have messages about other health matters and prevention against HIV is one of them, since we need to ease our health burden in general.

The National HIV/AIDS Commission has given us yeoman service over the years, distributing condoms and spreading the message of safe sex over the years. Indeed, we need to keep such a message in the forefront of the minds of Barbadians. Even our seniors. Whilst seniors are often the last to come to mind, in discussions about HIV, it is said that there are a growing number of older persons, infected with HIV. As such, it is critical to promote and support the inclusion of the elderly in the fight against HIV and not just target interventions at young or middle aged persons alone.

Barbadians must continuously be reminded about the threat of HIV and AIDS and the part risky behaviours and sexual practices play in fueling the epidemic. We must also have programmes that target key populations most at risk for HIV diagnosis such as heterosexual men, men who have sex with men (MSM) and male and female sex workers. Speaking of the latter, we have seen that sex workers are still plying their trade during this COVID-19 pandemic and hence, it is clear we need some dual programming about COVID and HIV.

We cannot afford to slacken our riding where the fight against HIV and AIDS is concerned, lest we erase many of the gains made, over the long run. So even in the midst of this pandemic, we need to bring back the HIV/AIDS programming. We saw the HIV/AIDS Commission doing some good work, teaming up with agencies and groups to distribute healthy food such as fruits and vegetables, ground provisions and other goodies, to persons in need just last year, during the pandemic. The Commission also handed out HIV/AIDS pamphlets and condoms and was on hand to answer any health related questions members of the public had, based on the locations they were stationed at. However, this year, we hope to hear much more from the Commission.