2023-12-01 08:00:00
“I got my diagnosis in 2018 when I went to donate blood for a coworker. I was in a stable relationship and for that reason, it had never occurred to me to test myself. It was my mistake”. Mariana Jaroslavsky has been a member of ICW Argentina, an international organization of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, since 2020.
“At first, it’s a shock. In my case, I had the information from the 90s when I went to school. It meant you died. Afterwards, I was able to start thinking more coldly. In fact, I have a friend with the virus and she lives very well. I know people who continue with their lives. A lot of progress has been made in the treatment,” said the woman.
He highlighted the importance of December 1, World HIV AIDS Day, regarding free and immediate testing.
“When the diagnosis is late it is difficult to reverse it because the defenses do not increase any more. Testing must be annual. If it turns out to be positive, there is a whole team of doctors and psychologists. With a diagnosis, life is normal”, he highlighted.
Jaroslavsky’s treatment consists of taking one pill daily. The social work provides the medication every three months. “I have no side effects. It is a simple, accessible and easy-to-sustain treatment.”, he assured.
He said that there are around 46 thousand women living with HIV in Argentina, of which 98% were infected through their partner. “The test is not requested in gynecological consultations. One assumes that being in a stable relationship is not necessary, but there is information that does not circulate”said Jaroslavsky.
He pointed out that despite advances in treatments, cases of stigmatization are still present, especially when looking for work or meeting other people.
“Men are reluctant to use condoms and added to the fact that the Ministry of Health will be demoted to Secretariat, complicated times are coming,” he considered.
Late diagnosis
HIV is a chronic communicable disease. There is no cure but Medication allows the infection to be controlled.
According to last year’s national bulletin, 140,800 patients live with HIV in Argentina. Specialists assure that the percentage of people who were unaware of their diagnosis fell from 30% to 13%. “The reason? Access to health and increased testing. In this way, treatment can be quickly accessed. If the patient takes the medication, following six months he is undetectable, controls his infection and does not transmit the virus to other people sexually,” said infectious disease doctor Lucía de Labra, a member of the Sexual Health team.
The problem in Río Negro is that the diagnosis is late, in the order of 31.4%, when at the national level the percentage reaches 30.1%. “Many times we arrive late and it is no longer an infection but AIDS. Testing must be promoted. Many doctors do not request it. The patient must be empowered to ask his doctor that if he is going to order studies, he should include HIV and sexually transmitted diseases,” he noted.
The new HIV law establishes that patients can request an HIV test in public system laboratories, without a doctor’s order.
Another striking fact is that 65% of patients living with HIV are treated in the public system. Half of that percentage has social work.
“I feel proud,” de Labra acknowledged: “in the public system, the patient obtains his diagnosis and within a week he has his treatment. It is a recommendation of the WHO and PAHO because it improves adherence to treatment. The private system takes a little longer: social work takes regarding a month to provide the medication.”
Currently, he added, the hospital provides preventive antiretroviral medication for the most vulnerable population that does not use condoms, such as in the case of sex workers. “We adhere to this preventive medication so that people do not become infected with HIV. It is more than 99% effective. We grant it within a combined prevention (studies and tests are carried out). It is a paradigm shift to the slogan of don’t stop using condoms. The issue is that there are certain populations that do not use it and that is where we have to have another prevention tool,” she said.
There will be free tests on Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Scum, in Moreno and Villegas and, Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Civic Center at the Sexual Diversity Festival.
The Sexual Health office is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. in offices 28 and 29 of the Bariloche hospital. It is by spontaneous demand.
1701421430
#early #diagnosis #important
