Guiglo, Jan 15, 2023 (AIP) – Twenty-two HIV/AIDS community counselors strengthened their capacities, from Tuesday January 10 to Friday January 13, 2023, in Guiglo, during a seminar initiated by the NGO ACONDA-VS, as part of screening and care for people living with HIV (PLHIV), which is a public health problem in Côte d’Ivoire.
Coming from Guiglo, Taï, Duékoué, Zagné, Facobly, Kouibly and Sémian, this training session aimed to instil communication strategies for behavior change in these 22 community actors. And this, in order to enable them to raise awareness in their turn in the communities to explain the merits and the advantages of HIV/AIDS screening and to encourage the populations, especially those at risk, to adhere to it.
According to LucKas Yéchi Yapi, Regional Care and Support Technical Assistant, Therapeutic Patient Education, in charge of community activities of ACONDA-VS Côte d’Ivoire, in Cavally-Guémon, concerning the management of HIV/AIDS, the Donor’s goal is to eradicate HIV by 2030.
“And, in the understanding of the donor, this target falls under the three times 95, which implies that for the first 95, the 95% of people living with HIV must be tested and be aware of their status. The second 95, 95% of people are on treatment. The third 95, the 95% of people on treatment must have their viral load suppressed”, explained Mr. Yéchi. Before specifying that “viral load is a medical examination to determine the amount of virus in the blood.”
The technical assistant indicated that this examination follows a schedule and that for a patient newly placed on antiretroviral treatment, it will be done six months later, and that one year later, he must benefit from two viral loads which, when permanently suppressed, allow the (patient) to be classified as stable.
“And today, positive patients are asked to take their medication well to achieve this stability because recent research in the United States has shown that when they are in care and take their medication well and manage to suppress the viral load, they can no longer contaminate or transmit the disease even during unprotected sexual intercourse”, he shared, thinking that this medical news constitutes “hope for people living with HIV, but also for people who live with HIV-positive people.”
Aconda-VS is an NGO, support partner operating in 27 health districts and 148 sites, and involved in the care of people living with HIV. It began its activities in 2002, and since 2020 has covered five major regional entities, namely Cavally/Guémon, Tonkpi, Poro/Tchologo/Bagoué, Gbêkê/Hambol and Gontougo.
(AIP)
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