|
| Guayaquil,
Ecuador |
|
INFORMATION
ON HIV/AIDS |
|
The
VIHDA Foundation: Who are we?
We are a group
of citizens, students, medical professionals, entrepreneurs, mothers
and fathers who are dedicated to stopping the HIV/AIDS epidemic
in Ecuador. In pursuit of our goals, we founded Fundacion VIHDA
in June 2006. Our main focus is on preventing the transmission
of the virus, and assisting those who have been exposed to or
live with HIV/AIDS.
Top of the page
|
Why
are we called VIHDA?
We
want to share a message of hope with people living with HIV. We
want to tell them that they don’t have to GIVE UP their
lives to HIV/AIDS, but instead they need to prepare to LIVE a
healthy and productive life with HIV. Today, with access to medical
care and medications, they can take better care of themselves
and their loved ones.
Our
work, then, emphasizes the LIFE (or VIDA in Spanish) of every
person who confronts the challenges of living with HIV (or VIH
in Spanish). We feel that it is not only possible but imperative
for all people living with HIV to lead healthy, dignified and
positive lives (VIHDA).
We
are aware that this virus is an important medical problem, which
needs to be treated responsibly. But thanks to current information
and new treatments, it is not the death sentence it once was.
With a healthy lifestyle and access to medical treatment, a person
living with HIV can lead a productive and rewarding life for many
years, as is possible with most chronic illnesses.
Testing
positive for HIV can dramatically change a person’s life.
One has to deal with different feelings and emotions simultaneously,
like fear, denial, rage, depression, anxiety, and above all, hopelessness.
This is why we want Fundación VIHDA to be a tool that allows
each person living with HIV to live life fully.
Top
of the page
|
What
do we want to achieve?
We
want to live in a country where no more children are born with HIV
and where all mothers can protect themselves and their babies by
detecting the virus on time. The transmission of HIV from mother
to child can be avoided by taking the right measures during pregnancy,
birth and breast-feeding.
We
want to see Ecuador as a country where young people practice safe
and responsible sex, so they don’t become the next victims
of this epidemic.
We
want to empower all women in Ecuador to be able to say NO when their
sexual partners try to manipulate them into having unprotected sex.
We
want to live in a country where men change their “machismo”
traditions of practicing unprotected sex, and start taking care
of their lives and those of their loved ones.
We
want to see Ecuador as a country that confronts and defeats discrimination
against people living with HIV/AIDS and a place where they can be
embraced by their families and thrive as part of society.
We
want to live in a country that feels empathy and cares for those
living with HIV/AIDS and helps them to stay healthy and vital.
We
want Ecuadorian health and government authorities to implement clear
and strong public policies that recognize the HIV/AIDS epidemic
as a national and social emergency.
Top
of the page
|
| How
will we achieve our goals?
Providing
communication, information and education geared towards pregnant
women, as well as the general public, about all aspects of the HIV/AIDS
virus: what it is, how it’s transmitted, how to prevent it
and how to treat it.
Promoting
voluntary HIV testing to pregnant women and the general population,
and giving them easy access to these tests.
Providing
people who live with HIV/AIDS better access to medical services,
counselors and social workers, so they can stay healthy.
Top
of the page
|
| How
will we work in the fields of public policy and private practice?
We
lobby for changes in the legal system that benefit the rights of
those living with HIV/AIDS in Ecuador.
We
make the public and private sectors more conscious and sensitive
towards those who live with HIV/AIDS, and to treat the issue more
responsibly within their fields of work and their lives.
We
promote and support social and medical investigations within the
diverse populations exposed to the virus in our country.
We
develop prevention strategies geared towards the general public
as well as social groups that are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Our
strategies are based on the ABC concepts of abstinence, be faithful
(monogamy) and the use of condoms.
We
strive to sensibilize and mobilize the public and private sectors
in the fields of education, health and social awareness of those
living with HIV/AIDS, so that our message of PREVENTION reaches
more people successfully.
Top
of the page
|
| Current
situation in Ecuador - 2006
Ecuador
appears to be on the verge of an explosion in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
A report published by UNICEF last year compared Ecuador's infection
rates to those of the Caribbean and Africa fifteen years ago, suggesting
that without intervention Ecuador’s rates in less than two
decades will rival those of the present day Caribbean and Africa.
The
response from Ecuador’s public health sector has been limited
and erratic due to the political instability of the last few years.
It is therefore necessary for civil society and its representative
institutions, as well as NGO’s, to get decisively involved
in the fight against HIV/AIDS to prevent an epidemic that will profoundly
harm many Ecuadorians.
In
this spirit, a group of entrepreneurs, students, medical professionals,
members of the press, and other citizens created Fundacion VIHDA
in June 2006. We are dedicated to preventing vertical (mother-to-child)
transmission of HIV and to assisting women and children living with
HIV, as well as their families, to have access to medical, psychological
and social services available in our country.
We
want all Ecuadorean children to be born free of HIV. HIV tests must
be available to all expecting mothers so that their doctors can
take the appropriate medical measures to avoid 98% of vertical transmission
cases, including transmission during pregnancy, birth and breast-feeding.
In addtion anti-retroviral therapy must be available to mothers
and newborns and delivery by c-section is necessary.
The
urgency for Ecuador to implement health policies against the spread
of HIV can be illustrated in the following examples, information
and statistics (see attached graphs):
- In 1990
Brazil and South Africa had roughly the same prevalence rates
of HIV in their population: just above 1%. Brazil implemented
policies to fight HIV/AIDS through education, free and widely
available testing and lowering the costs of ARV medication.
South Africa, on the other hand, refused to accept the importance
of the epidemic, promoted home remedies to fight HIV, did not
promote education, and did not make HIV tests widely available
to its population. Today Brazil has a prevalence rate of 0.3%
while South Africa’s is 25%.
- In comparison,
according to OPS/OMS, Ecuador in 2005 had a 1.9% prevalence
rate in the Guayaquil metropolitan area. In cities in the rural
sector, such as Milagro in the Province of Guayas, this rate
climbs to between 3-4%. The national average prevalence rate
is 0.45%.
- From 2000-2005,
there has been exponential growth in the number of HIV cases,
while AIDS cases have increased at a lower pace, and deaths
have remained somewhat stable thanks to ARV therapy.
- According
to Ministry of Health statistics, Guayas has 56.7% of all cases
of HIV/AIDS in Ecuador, as well as 59.3% of all women with HIV
in Ecuador. The most affected age-groups are between 20-39 years
of age; constituting 72.4% of all HIV/AIDS cases.
- The “feminization”
of the epidemic continues: whereas 8 years ago there were 10
men per 1 woman with HIV, in 2005 the ratio was 2.4:1, and in
2006 it is 1.7:1. The largest group affected by HIV/AIDS by
occupation is “homemakers” (23.5% of all cases),
composed almost completely by women.
- 70% of
reported cases in 2005 were in heterosexuals; 7% in homosexuals;
9% in bisexuals.
- What we
have found with the organizations we are working with in Guayaquil:
- In
three large health clinics run by the Consular Society of
Guayaquil, we have found a 1.13% prevalence rate (10/887
tests), although only 2.5% of their lab patients (5,000/month)
ask for HIV tests. Fundacion VIHDA is now working with these
health centers so that more patients are educated about
HIV and can have access to counseling and HIV tests in their
healthcare. We guide those that test positive so they can
have access to adequate healthcare and ARV medicine.
- According
to the Milagro, Guayas Red Cross, the peak prevalence rate
of 4.2% occurred in 2003. In 2006 the rate has been 3.2%
(15/468 tests).
- According
to Doctors-Without-Borders, a 1.95% incidence rate (17/872
tests) was found in the largest maternity ward in Guayaquil
during May and June of 2006. This ward alone accomodates
34,000 births per year, almost 20% of all births in the
country. Projecting this rate to their entire patient population
would mean that 663 expecting mothers with HIV per year
give birth at this one facility alone. Fundacion VIHDA is
assisting their doctors and counselors with printed and
audio-visual material to encourage voluntary HIV testing
and is also helping provide medical care to those mothers
testing positive for HIV avoid vertical transmission through
a program with the Ministry of Health.
For
all these reasons, Fundacion VIHDA will support all public and private
institutions willing to provide counseling, testing and medical
treatment to all expecting mothers as part of their pre-natal care,
as well as assist women, their children and families to have access
to appropriate HIV healthcare in the future.
Finally,
Fundacion VIHDA hopes to open, by the end of 2007, a health center
where we can provide medical, psychological and social assistance
to people living with HIV/AIDS, including a lab with the proper
equipment to conduct the relevant tests to help people remain healthy.
We
appreciate any and all help from private and/or public institutions
that can assist us in know-how, funding and in any other possible
way in this undertaking.
Top
of the page
|
|
