Don't be stupid! use a Condom or die of
HIV/Aids, it's as simple as that.Full
stop
HIV Prevention: Abstinence is the best
practice if you are not married.
HIV in the Gambia
The
fight against HIV/AIDS has taken an unprecedented step in the history of
The Gambia. Since 1986 when the first case was diagnosed there has been
very high level commitment on the side of the Government albeit the fact
that the response was purely health biased. The global concern that
HIV/AIDS is a major threat to development, especially following, the
Millennium Summit in New York in 2000, the African Development Forum in
Addis Ababa in December 2000, United Nations General Assembly on
HIV/AIDS (UNGAS) in June 2001 and the Abuja Declaration in September
2000, all of which were historical milestones in the annals of The
Gambia’s resolve to a multisectoral response against HIV/AIDS.
In The Gambia, the HIV/AIDS epidemic was rapidly increasing. In 2004,
the prevalence of HIV-1 was 2.1% compared with 1.5% in
2003 and 1.2% in 2001 respectively (National Sentinel
Surveillance 2000-2004). It is estimated that over 16,800 people are
infected with HIV-1 and 500 people die annually of AIDS.
There are geographical variations in reported HIV prevalence rates. The
most recent data has indicated that the investments in our response to
the pandemic are beginning to bear fruits.
The prevalence data in 2005 shows a 1.1% for HIV 1 and 0.6%
for HIV 2. (Sentinel Surveillance Results 2005) The prevalence has for
the first time shown a sign of decline although this data still
indicates that there is no room for complacency. With a population of
1.4million, it is estimated that 19,800 people in The Gambia are
infected with HIV-1 and an estimated (500) people die annually of AIDS
in The Gambia
The creation of the multisectoral National AIDS Council headed by no
other person than the President of the Republic Dr. Alhagie Yahya
A.J.J.Jammeh is a clear manifestation of Government’s commitment to put
the fight against HIV/AIDS high on its development agenda. Similarly a
National AIDS Secretariat has been created and established under the
office of the President and Divisional/Municipal AIDS Committees are
also created at the decentralized level to lead the response at the
grass roots level.
National Sentinel
Surveillance Results 2005
In
the recently concluded behavioural sentinel surveillance (2005), it was
reported that awareness level is as high as 96.4%. However it was also
noted that men are generally more aware than their female counterparts.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Knowledge of the ABC
Prevention Methods
Despite the remarkable gains registered in our national
response to HIV/AIDS there is an apparent gap between knowledge and
behaviour change. The emphasis will therefore be on the addressing the
core factors fuelling the epidemic.
The Government's commitment and efforts resulted in the birth of The
Gambia HIV/AIDS Rapid Response Project (HARRP), a US$16, 000 jointly
funded by The Gambia Government and the World Bank (IDA). The World Bank
project marked a critical milestone in setting the scene for a truly
multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS. Our efforts have seen an emergence
of an unprecedented response with the effective participation of the
public sector institutions, the private sector, community and civil
society organisations and more importantly the visible participation of
the leadership at both national, divisional, community and at personal
level (figure 1). The Gambia has scaled up our prevention of parent to
child transmission of HIV/AIDS as well as mitigating the social and
economic impact of the epidemic especially on the orphans and vulnerable
children, women and other vulnerable groups in our society.
Figure 1 His Excellency the President of the Republic
Calling All Gambians to go for VCT
The
response to HIV/AIDS in The Gambia took an unprecedented turn in 2004
when Anti Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) were made available to eligible People
Living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHAs) free of charge. Three treatment centres
were established and accredited to provide high quality treatment, care
and support services. About 287 PLWHAs are enrolled on ART to date the
comprehensive treatment programme is provided at no financial cost to
the PLWHAs. The introduction of antiretroviral drugs will not only
prolong life of people living with HIV/AIDS but also mitigate the
devastating effect the epidemic has on development goals of the country.
It is within this context that The Gambia Government in collaboration
with its partners submitted a project proposal to the Global Fund
principally to fill the gap realised within the context of scaling up
the response to HIV/AIDS in the Gambia. The Global Fund Project focuses
mainly on HIV treatment, care and support issues complementing the
efforts of HARRP in The Gambia.
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