One in four aged 15 to 39 HIV+ - Ramsammy
Stabroek News
October 14, 2002
This year’s World AIDS Day on December 1 will see the Ministry of Health concentrating on young people as one in four persons between the ages of 15 to 39 is infected with the HIV virus.
A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that during an interview Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy disclosed that he would be meeting with students and teachers of various schools to establish health clubs.
These clubs, he told GINA, will provide education on various health and social issues including HIV/AIDS, chronic diseases, obesity, tobacco, teenage pregnancy and child abuse.
The release said that last week the minister met students of the Lower Corentyne Comprehensive School where the first school programme was launched.
According to the release, World AIDS Day was first observed locally in 1988 one year after Guyana acknowledged the problem by documenting its first case of HIV.
The country has since compiled a National Strategic Plan to fight the epidemic but it was not fully implemented and was revised and incorporated in the ministry’s plan for 2002-2006.
The release disclosed that research has indicated that mostly young people between the ages of 15-39 are infected with the virus and that it has infected more than 20,000 persons in Guyana.