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Journalists enlightened on latest trend of infectious diseases |07 October 2015

Journalists from local media houses, representatives from youth associations and non-governmental organisations got the chance to learn more about the current trend of infectious diseases such as HIV, Aids and Hepatitis B.

This was another ‘Meet the Press’ event organised by the Association of Media Practitioners (AMPS) in a meeting with health officials on Tuesday.

The meeting was held at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre in the presence of the Minister for Health Mitcy Larue, principal secretary Peggy Vidot and senior health officials.

The two-hour session was an educative one as well as providing information to the media and other stakeholders present. It was hosted ahead of the 14th Indian Ocean Colloquium on HIV and Hepatitis B to be held next month.

During the various presentations the current trends of those infectious diseases as well as strategies being adopted to combat them were explained to the audience.

Dr Jastin Bibi revealed that the first case of HIV infection in Seychelles was detected in 1987 and 706 cases have been recorded up to June this year.

According to statistics there are 420 people living with Aids, and from January to June 2015, 41 new cases were detected; there were more people dying from Aids in 2014 than in any other year; the peak of infections was in 2008 while in 2009 more pregnant women were diagnosed with HIV infection.

As for Hepatitis B, Dr Bibi said the highest number of infections was in 2012. Then there was a decrease in 2013-2014 which the presenters believe was caused by the programmes put in place and the introduction of methadone to the infected which are already bearing its fruits. Young people in the age group 20-34 are the most affected.

Consultant Benjamin Vel also presented the findings of his Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and Behaviour (KAPB) study survey which has as objective to try to determine the above-mentioned issues about HIV, Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases of the general population. Though the trend is still increasing, Mr Vel pointed out 85% of the public are aware of those infectious diseases.

The chief executive of the National Aids Council, Dr Anne Gabriel, talked about the strategy on Aids and HIV which was adopted by the United Nations in 2011 as a means of achieving zero cases of HIV infection, zero Aids related deaths and zero stigma and discriminations by 2030.

But in some countries, the UNAids wants to achieve these targets by 2020, a target that Seychelles is also hoping to achieve.

Dr Gabriel also talked about the forthcoming colloquium where local, regional and international partners will interact and share ideas related to HIV Aids.

At the meeting with the press it also came out strongly that statistics alone do not really reflect the real situation and now targeted groups should be those most at risk.

 

 

 

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