US Embassy partners with Baptist to combat HIV/AIDS

The American Embassy has been funding the Early Infant Diagnosis, EID, Reference Laboratory of the Baptist Health Services, to the tune of over FCFA 1 Billion.

US Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Hoza, on November 13, visited the laboratory in Mutengene, where he was led to a guided tour around the health outfit by the Director of the Baptist Health Services, Prof Pius Tih Muffih.

Welcoming the Diplomat, the lab supervisor, Roland Masha, thanked the US Government for its unflinching support in the fight against the spread of HIV and the Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa and Cameroon in particular.

“We are transitioning from a manual DNA testing method to an automated Abbott system, which is able to test 96 samples per day, with high accuracy, less human error and also permits us to do viral load testing. All of these are thanks to the American Government that helped us to acquire the modern equipment,” Mashal said.

He added that, in 2003, out of 6,618 infants tested in the laboratory, 363 were positive, giving prevalence rate of 5.5 percent.

“This year,” Mashal went further, “we have tested 3,460 infants of which 155 were positive, giving a prevalence rate of 4.3 percent. This indicates that infection rate is dropping and prevention from mother-to-child transmission of HIV is working well.

35 Million People Living With HIV Meanwhile, during a 2-day follow-up workshop to hone the skills of some 16 journalists on HIV and AIDS reporting, at the Baptist Health Service, it was stated that, according to UNAIDS Global Report of 2013, about 35 million people in the world are living with HIV.

The report further states that 69.7 percent of the 35 million people living with HIV are from Sub-Saharan Africa and 70 percent of them are youth and women.

The Cameroon Demographic Health Survey, on its part, states that about 600,000 people are living with the virus. This prevalence varies according to geographical regions, age and gender.

According to the survey, the Far North Region has the lowest prevalence rate of 1.2 percent, while the South Region has the highest prevalence rate of 7.2 percent. Persons aged 35-40 have the greatest prevalence rate, which is 8.1 percent, while women have higher rates across every geographical region and age group.

Proffering some of the preventive methods of HIV and AIDS, a health expert, Claudette Beyeh, said; “we are now moving from the Abstinence, Be faithful to your partner, and Condom usage, which is the ABC module of prevention, to the Safer Practices, Available Medications, Voluntary Counselling and Testing and Empowerment, SAVE module.

Another Medic, Alfred Ndzi Ndika, who expounded on HIV and Tuberculosis, TB, said TB is the primary cause of death for people living with HIV.

He said all those living with HIV are tested for TB, because they are more susceptible to contracting it and, when tested positive, they are immediately put on intensive medication for 6-12 months at TB treatment centres.

“The good news is that TB, like HIV treatment, is free of charge in Cameroon. Unfortunately, the 6-12 month duration of TB treatment causes many patients to default, thereby creating drug resistance, which is a perennial public health problem in Cameroon,” Ndzi said.

For her part, CRTV’s health reporter, Helen Ngoh, gave lectures on best rules and methods of reporting on HIV and AIDS in the media.

The seminar was supervised by Emmanuel Nshom and had as facilitators; Lauretta-Barbara Ngum, Kathleen Nulah, and Josephine Kidio.