Cuba with several achievements in the fight against AIDS

Cuba today celebrates the World Day for the Fight against HIV/AIDS with several results, among them that WHO ratified the certification for eliminating the transmission of this disease from mother to child and congenital syphilis .

The expert committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) in charge of validation highlighted as an impressive achievement in public health that the island maintained that condition uninterruptedly since it was granted in 2015.

As explained on the social networks by Cuban Minister of Public Health (Minsap), José Angel Portal, the international health organization highlighted Cuba's solid experience and commitment to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission.

Other Cuban achievements are being the nation of Latin America with the lowest HIV / AIDS prevalence, maintaining transmission control in children under 14, heterosexual men and women and early detection of the disease, Bárbara Venegas, Official of the Department of STI / AIDS and Hepatitis of the Epidemiology Department of Minsap, told reporters.

With respect to the goal 90-90-90 set by Cuba for the year 2020 (that 90 percent of the patients know their serological status, that same figure has access to treatments, as well as eliminating almost 100 percent of the transmission, with a minimal viral load) stressed that 87-86-73.8 has been reached, respectively.

Currently, cases can be diagnosed in any part of the national territory, which allows the optimization of resources and faster and more effective medical care.

Venegas reported that of the total 26 thousand 952 people living with HIV in the country, 80 percent are male and 82 are between 20 and 54 years old, while 87 percent were diagnosed in a stadium early disease, which allowed us to offer timely treatment.

The specialist said in Cuba the most affected are transsexual women (19.7 percent), men who have sex with other men (5.6 percent) and those who exercise transnational sex (2.8percent).

Among the activities that will be carried out in Havana, national headquarters for the event, there is a mobilization in social networks for the prevention of STI-HIV/AIDS and a cultural gala in the Avellaneda hall of the National Theater, on which occasion they will deliver the Esperanza Awards, recognition of the promoters' work in health prevention.

The first time World AIDS Day was celebrated was in 1988 and since that date, the virus has killed more than 32 million people worldwide, representing one of the most destructive epidemics in world history.

WHO data indicates that the growing access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and effective care has allowed HIV infection to be a chronic health problem with the possibility of a long and otherwise healthy life.

This year, the international day, sponsored by WHO, has the motto 'Communities make a difference' to highlight how the promotional and preventive work carried out in these places helps prevent the spread of this pandemic.