80% of people diagnosed with HIV are on treatment – Health – Information – Latest news from Uruguay and the world updated

In Uruguay, there are about 12,000 people with HIV-AIDS, of whom 10,000 know that they have the disease. Of those diagnosed, 80% are on treatment and there has been a significant decrease in new cases detected each year.

The decrease in the number of cases of HIV-AIDS since 2013, the increase in studies and the incorporation of a specific drug into the list of expensive drugs was emphasized by the head of public health, Jorge Bbado, yesterday on the occasion of the national day of prevention of this disease.

The quantity and quality of HIV-AIDS case detection studies and the decrease in the number of new cases detected in recent years, from 1,200 per year to about 800, have been mentioned by Minister Bbado and head of the health sector. ETS / HIV-AIDS program of the Ministry of Public Health, Susana Cabrera

Bbado notes that in Uruguay there are about 12,000 people living with HIV, 10,000 diagnosed, and among these, 80% are in treatment. "With the treatment well done, without abandoning it, these people will have a chronic and non-fatal disease. (…) Our country, unlike what is happening in much of the world, has all sorts of drugs for the treatment of HIV-AIDS. "

With regard to mother-to-child transmission, Cabrera said that" in the last three years, the numbers are less than 2% and that the " aspiration is to reach zero, but the two difficulties that seem to reach are For its part, Bbado said that the drug for this disease is very expensive, but the government is taking steps to improve the drug. access and now incorporates another high-priced drug into the therapeutic form. of drugs. "Our country, by far, is the one who gives the most high-priced drugs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and he has access to all the people who need them," he said. Health, half of the patients attend both the public health service administration and private providers.

Diagnostics.

Meanwhile, Cabrera pointed out that the reduction in new diagnoses is occurring despite the steady increase in studies, which means that there are actually fewer new infections.

He explained that this phenomenon could be due to better access to antiretroviral therapy and the increase in the number of people on treatment. "When people are on antiretroviral therapy and the viral load is undetectable in the blood, HIV is not transmitted, and it is something very important that needs to be communicated," he said. he says

. It is available in all health centers for those who request it.

In the case where the result is positive, the treatment is provided immediately and it is not expected, as it was previously, that the patient's defenses are increased. He also stressed the importance of using condoms.

Every three minutes, a person between the ages of 16 and 19 contracts this virus somewhere in the world, a situation that is difficult to end, according to UNAIDS. In Eastern Europe and Asia

The International AIDS Conference concluded yesterday its twenty-second edition with denunciations of the criminalization of AIDS and prostitution and alarmed by the increase in infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 19659016] "More than 15 million people still live with HIV, 25% of them do not know their status, we need to investigate more, try more and deploy more prevention strategies, and especially develop what we We know how to be, "said former US President Bill Clinton today.

In 2017, the infection killed 940,000 people and, of the 36.9 million or so people living with the virus, it is estimated that 15.2 million have not had access to adequate treatment. ( Efe )