BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN an effort to have more people in St. Kitts know their HIV status, officials at the National AIDS Programme have opened six new testing sites around the island.
That disclosure was made by head of the Programme, Gardenia Destang-Richardson, who recently told reporters that those sites include health centers around the island.
She stated that in the past, people would have gone to their doctor or at the health centers and then be referred to the laboratory at the JNF Hospital, where they would be tested.
She however declared that they had moved passed that process and have since began conducting tests at the AIDS Programme Secretariat in Bladen’s, and as of June 1 they had added the six sites.
“We have since increased the number of Rapid Testing sites, including additional health centers. So now persons can go to several heath centers around the island and get their Rapid Test within 10 minutes.”
The Secretariat has seen the number of cases remain stable in the Federation, according to Destang-Richardson.
Destang-Richardson was recently asked about the numbers, to which and she pointed out that they did a “cumulative report, where we basically looked at the numbers from 1984 when we diagnosed the first case, and we are just over 400 cases in the Federation”.
The government official noted that they have seen a spike in cases in teens between the ages of 17 and 24 and men over 40.
“The middle there seems to be fairly okay but based on the numbers that we are seeing, the peaks are in those two categories, primarily men.”
She is concerned that young people are at the age of being exposed to lots of HIV awareness and education, adding that it is baffling to know why they are seeing that increase.
“We have not done any scientific studies to give us that information. However, it simply means that there is this sort of perception of not having or there is no risk. It means that I am young, I am healthy, I am good, I am okay, not recognizing that HIV fully does not discriminate…it can affect anybody.”
According to Destang-Richardson, despite the region seeing an increase, the Federation remains stable.
