One in every four new HIV infections occurs among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. This trend was highlighted by Public Health Specialist and former Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), Dr. Shanti Singh, who noted that varying factors, including high-risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol drinking and pill-induced sexual activities, are fueling it.
During her appearance on the Starting Point Podcast, Dr. Singh spoke extensively about the hard-won gains Guyana has made over the years in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Dr Singh, who has dedicated 11 years to shaping the country’s response programme, endorsed the positive impacts of ramped-up awareness campaigns, which could include a more aggressive sex education programme in schools.
“This trend raises the question about all of the things that we have done at the very beginning of this epidemic: the need for education, the need for mass media communication, the need to engage young people, and the need for this to happen at an earlier time so that younger people do not get infected,” Dr. Singh said.
The health expert also spoke about the cultural shifts that could be exposing young people, particularly adolescents, to numerous risks.
“People socialise in networks and there’s a lot of peer pressure that’s happening in these networks…I’ve heard about things like chem-sex. I don’t know how much of that applies here, but it’s people getting high on certain drugs and then having sex. And so that also is another new dynamic that I think the national programme is looking at,” she said.
Dr. Singh acknowledged that vaping is another contributing factor, along with the misconception that HIV is no longer a problem due to improved access to treatment and self-testing. “So all of those things are sort of like a melting pot and I think combined, it’s really what’s putting some of our adolescents and young adults at risk,” the Public Health Specialist said.
Citing another trend to watch, Dr. Singh said there are 10,000 people in Guyana living with HIV, 33 per cent of whom are over the age of 50. This, she said, brings its own challenges.
“In the early days, we never had older people to manage. People came in young, then they died. Now with treatment, people are growing older,” she said.