Havana, Cuba, Dec 7 (Radio Cadena Agramonte) – Cuba develops multiple actions to confront the AIDS epidemic, in order to reduce new infections, late diagnosis and deaths from that disease, as well as improve the quality of life of those living with the disease.
In conversation with the ACN, Dr. Maria Isela Lantero Abreu, head of the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) / HIV / AIDS, of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), explained that by 2020, the 90-90-90 Goals of the region aspire to expand testing and treatment services.
This is a commitment made by the member countries of the United Nations, related to having diagnosed by that year 90 percent of the people who have HIV in the population, she said.
Likewise, it foresees that the same percentage is guaranteed continued antiretroviral treatment and that 90 percent of those who receive this procedure manage to suppress the viral load, while reducing late diagnoses, she added.
These goals are essential in order to achieve the commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic as a global health problem by 2030, said the expert from the Ministry of Health.
With a view to achieving that goal, Cuba intensifies prevention actions and although results are still preliminary today, 81 percent of those people are under treatment, she said.
In the country 28 thousand people with the disease have been diagnosed about since the beginning of the epidemic in 1986, and are currently living with that ailment about 23 thousand.
According to data from the World Health Organization since 1981 with the appearance of the first cases, the disease has killed more than 34 million people in the world and 37 million people are currently living with HIV.
In 2015, Cuba was the first country in the world to validate the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis, a certification that is currently being maintained, the specialist announced.
By 2018, the basic strategies continue to be the promotion of condom use, prevention, intersectoral work and with key groups, training of promoters, and training, the official said, who participates in the VI International Seminar on infection by HIV and AIDS in Cuba. (ACN)
