Saint Lucia: The report of the HIV circumstances within the nation of Saint Lucia for the 12 months 2023 noticed a lower within the variety of circumstances reported as in comparison with the earlier knowledge.
As per the stories disclosed by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sharon Belmar-George, lower than a thousand individuals in Saint Lucia reside with HIV.
The file exhibits that presently, about 992 people are affected by HIV on the island nation. It should be famous that as per the survey, the official inhabitants of Saint Lucia is round 180 thousand. That leaves us with the ratio of 1 HIV case each 182 individuals.
The extra circumstances within the nation recorded are of males, that’s, round 57 per cent of the overall variety of circumstances. The variety of circumstances involving male sufferers decreased as there have been 65 per cent of circumstances of males affected by HIV recorded in 2022.
As per the assertion of the Chief Medical Officer, within the 12 months 2023, 26 new HIV circumstances have been recognized within the nation of Saint Lucia. The determine exhibits the lower within the circumstances as in comparison with 2022, with a distinction of practically 32 per cent.
It was additionally recorded that within the 12 months 2023, 15 individuals died as a consequence of HIV in Saint Lucia.
Dr Gail Gajadhar, Senior Medical Officer, talked about that in 2023, which is the early part of the twenty first century, there should be no deaths seen wherever on this planet as a consequence of HIV.
It’s talked about by medical specialists that the recorded deaths from HIV-related sicknesses occur as a consequence of late-stage analysis of the people who find themselves struggling. The explanation behind the late analysis is that individuals who undergo from HIV don’t wish to settle for that they’ve HIV.
The island nation of Saint Lucia has seen a change within the medical services with time as the federal government has taken critical steps in direction of the betterment of the sector.
Gajadhar talked about how Saint Lucia has modified with time from not having any treatment to handle HIV, to getting HIV remedies like anti-retroviral remedy that’s not solely obtainable but in addition freed from value for the patients.
Speaking about your entire area of the Caribbean, it’s the second most affected place on this planet after solely the area of Sub-Saharan Africa.
It’s proven within the prior surveys that round one per cent of individuals within the Caribbean are affected by HIV. Within the island nation of Bahamas, the speed of HIV was recorded as the best, at greater than three per cent.
As per the information of the latest few years, the circumstances of HIV recorded within the Caribbean are seemingly two per cent in Bahamas and Belize, 1.8 per cent in Jamaica and Haiti, 1.5 per cent in Trinidad and Tobago, and one per cent in Guyana and Suriname.
The charges of HIV are lower than one per cent within the nations of Barbados and Dominica, the place the island nation of Cuba is recorded with the bottom charge of HIV.
As per the stories of the WHO, HIV is among the main points seen the general public well being around the globe. HIV has claimed practically 40 million deaths on this planet which might be recorded formally.
Within the knowledge of 2022, there have been round 39 million circumstances recorded of HIV, and the Caribbean had an enormous quantity of circumstances solely after essentially the most circumstances recorded in Africa, which was round 25 million circumstances.
The people who are suffering from HIV discover the signs of fever, headache, sore throat and rash-like points.
The scenario weakens the immune system of the affected person and results in issues like swollen lymph nodes, weight reduction, fever, diarrhoea, and cough. The scenario may be elevated to most cancers if the affected person doesn’t get handled in time.
As per medical specialists, HIV may be precipitated from individual to individual with the change of various physique fluids of individuals already affected by HIV like blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions.”
“HIV can be precipitated throughout being pregnant and supply of the new child. HIV can’t attributable to day by day regular contact like hugging, handshake, kissing or sharing meals or water.” They talked about.
The Ministry of Well being of Saint Lucia additionally launched their report of recorded circumstances through which they shared related knowledge on HIV.
The report of the well being ministry additionally shared knowledge on different ailments within the nation, like COVID-19, most cancers, dengue, malaria, Leprosy, and many others., with the opposite medical circumstances attributable to accidents and crimes in 2023.
Folks of the nation additionally shared their opinions concerning the circumstances within the nation.
One particular person stated, “In Saint Lucia each physique fop everyone. Small island. Issues unfold quick amongst small populations. And that’s the 15 they know of. As soon as younger populations die like they did in Africa sooner or later, they higher pay nearer consideration to this. Carnival good time, everyone sleeping with everybody else. When one have it, it passing to so many.”
“Some additionally infect intentionally too, they know they’ve it, but they sleeping round. If they fight it within the huge international locations, jail time for them. It’s simple to sequence the virus genetically to know if somebody intentionally infects one other. They’ve the know-how and jail time.” He added.
One particular person on the potential circumstances within the nation stated, “Multiply that quantity by 100. So it suggests that nearly 10000 persons are undiagnosed on the island out of a inhabitants of simply 180000. It signifies that virtually 6% of the inhabitants could also be affected by this. Stunning.”
The federal government and medical specialists are working to carry a distinction within the variety of circumstances within the nation and make individuals more healthy.
The steps taken by the well being ministry in direction of the problem are spreading consciousness among the many residents of the nation and educating them about HIV.
The federal government can also be engaged on improving the medical infrastructure of the nation in order that it may be simple to deal with individuals affected by life-threatening ailments like HIV and plenty of extra.
It’s also vital for the individuals of the nation to simply accept their illness and converse to their physician earlier than it might probably hurt their lives.
