LATEST FIGURES ON HIV/AIDS RELEASED

September 14, 2007

The latest report on new HIV cases in Belize is out and the news is not good.  The report shows that even though the number of persons testing continues to rise so does the number of positive cases.Doctor Marvin Manzanero is the Director of National AIDS Program in the Ministry of Health. 

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“Yes,we have 137 new cases in three months.Although that is not the highest number of cases we’ve had per quarter,it is alarming because it doubles what we had in the first quarter this year.But also when we reported 70 is the first quarter,which was very,very low,nobody said anything.” 

Arturo Cantun,Love FM:

“Do you think this relates to more people testing?”  

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“In a way,yes.Because if you look at the total amount of people who got tested,which is 2,426 which is more than 400 tests in the same quarter for the previous year.So I would say that is a big increase,yes.” 

Arturo Cantun,Love FM:

“Doctor Manzanero,we see more cases coming out.Perhaps being are adhering to the testing,but do you think that people out there are still not getting the message of being protected?” 

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“I think you can look at it from both ways.The fact that we have more numbers is because people are coming out to get tested,but we would obviously like to see lesser number of cases being reported on a whole,or lesser number of positives cases,that is.So it seems that the message is not getting across.The message in essence is that people know how they can become infected and that is not happening because people are still not changing their behavior.” 

Doctor Manzanero said that for the second quarter, which records statistics from April to June 2007, there has been three reported cases of children between the ages of one and four who have tested positive.  In addition to this the ratio of male to female continues to be one to one.   

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“We don’t have that information breakdown as to,whether it’s coming from a homosexual community or heterosexual community or even a bi-sexual community.We don’t have those numbers broken down as such.What we do know is that the amount of females and males becoming infected is practically the same.If you look at the second quarter we had 70 males and 67 females.So it’s a one-to-one ratio.What we do know is that the main mode of transition in Belize is sexual contact.”  

Arturo Cantun,Love FM:

“You did say that the message is not going through,but have you noticed any culture thing that more cases are reported in a certain ethnic group?” 

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“We don’t people’s ethnicity because everybody defines themselves in different fashions.What we do know is that the majority of cases are still coming where the prevalence rate is higher in both Stann Creek and Belize.Actually,in the Belize district we got 117 out of the 137 cases.” 

For the second quarter a total of ten new AIDS cases have been registered and compared to other years is low.  However because certain patients have stopped taking treatment the number of AIDS death is thirteen for this second quarter.  According to observations made by the Ministry of Health, the main challenge in the fight against HIV / AIDS is changing the lifestyle of people. 

Doctor Marvin Manzanero,Director of National AIDS Program:

“It seems that it’s changing people’s behavior,and I think the same thing applies to other entities such as road traffic accidents,where you have people,knowing what precautions to take and still engaging in that risky behavior.It’s the same thing that applies to HIV/AIDS.People know how they will become infected,but people are still not changing their behavior And that’s kind of difficult to pinpoint to one single reason why that’s not happening.I think it’s simply because people think that it cannot happen to them,that if a person looks healthy or looks good,that that person cannot have HIV and that’s the primary mistake we’re making.”  

Presently the Ministry of Health is offering treatment to five hundred and eighty four patients.  One of the main concerns however is that in this recent quarter fifty three out of the one hundred and thirty seven new HIV cases are people in the ages group twenty to twenty nine.  Manzanero said Belize continues to have the highest prevalence rate in Central America. 

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