INDIAN OCEAN: Climbing HIV figures show a changing picture

The Indian Ocean region has been much less affected by HIV/AIDS than
countries in neighbouring Africa

PORT LOUIS, 14 November 2008 (PlusNews) - Over 500 people from
Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion Island, the Comoros and Seychelles
attended the seventh conference on AIDS in Indian Ocean, and shared
their growing concern over the impact of AIDS in their respective
countries.

The Indian Ocean region has been much less affected by the HIV/AIDS
epidemic than countries in neighbouring Africa, but this could be
changing, delegates at the conference in Mauritius from 10 to 12
November heard.

The main problem shared by all five the island nations was stigma
towards people living with the virus; otherwise, although the islands
are not far from each other, their problems are different.

In Comoros - a three-island archipelago with a population of 700,000 -
UNAIDS estimated that in 2007 fewer than 200 people were living with
HIV. Although Comoros has low HIV prevalence, it faces considerable
poverty, low condom use, poor levels of HIV knowledge and a high
incidence of sexually transmitted infections.

Madagascar, the biggest island in the Indian Ocean and also one of
the poorest countries in the region, still has a low prevalence of
0.1 percent, with 14,000 people living with HIV at the end of 2007,
according to UNAIDS.

However, limited access to health and social services, multiple and
concurrent partnerships, and high rates of sexually transmitted
infections mean the Malagasy are becoming increasingly vulnerable to
HIV.

Mauritian Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam told delegates
that the island now has a prevalence rate of 1.8 percent, and called
for greater vigilance in curbing the spread of the epidemic.

Although the country has been providing free antiretroviral (ARV)
drugs since 2002, it has experienced an explosive growth in new HIV
infections, with a shift in the main mode of HIV transmission from
heterosexual sex to injecting drug use. In 2000 only 2 percent of
people living with HIV were injecting drug users; in 2006 this had
shot up to 85.9 percent.

The government has introduced a needle exchange programme to provide
injecting drugs users with clean equipment to prevent the spread of
infections, but the move was heavily criticised.

Dr Willy Rozenbaum, head of the French National AIDS Council and a
member of the team that first discovered the virus, hailed the
Mauritian Government for having taken this decision.

"We can eradicate this disease in 50 years with the facilities and
knowledge that we have at present. We do not need to invent new
things if we strictly apply what we have now. There must be strong
political commitment to this, and to stopping stigmatisation, which
is often more painful than the disease itself."

In the Seychelles archipelago, a lack of facilities and social care
were the main issues.

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