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"The data is frightening": warning on the spread of HIV in Madagascar
The 20th edition of the Indian Ocean HIV Symposium ended on Thursday in Antananarivo. Doctors, healthcare workers, authorities and donors met one last time to establish several observations and propose solutions to the AIDS epidemic. The opportunity to shine a spotlight on very alarming realities in Madagascar and some of its neighboring islands.
Published on:10/25/2024 - 12:30
By : RFI
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
Projections estimate that 76,000 Malagasy people will be infected with HIV in 2024. The experts met at the conference are much more pessimistic. " This is a low projection. From what we see on the ground, this figure is at least twice as high ," they say.
" The lack of data gives the impression that there is no problem, but that is not true! And if we do nothing, there will soon be an explosion in the country like we have seen in South Africa, Tanzania, Eswatini or Botswana ," warns Jude Padayachy, director of UNAIDS in Madagascar , Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius.
" The little data we have is frightening ," he continues. " For example, we screened 1,300 students at the University of Tamatave last month and 1.33% of them are infected. At the University of Majunga, it's 1.4%. In Ambanja, we screened pregnant women in a clinic and 10% of them were HIV carriers. This is serious! If nothing changes, we're going to have a big, big problem in Madagascar in the years to come. "
“ Not enough tests to meet needs ”
On the island, screening tests are supposed to be free and available in all basic health centers , confirms the UNAIDS representative. But the reality is quite different: " There are not enough tests to meet all the needs ," concedes Jude Padayachy.
Also, the doctors – starting with Dr Catherine Gaud, immunologist and founder of the conference – openly pleaded with the authorities and donors for an urgent and massive supply of HIV screening tests to the island.
" Madagascar has been forgotten among African countries. However, screening is an essential point, it is the beginning of care. If you do not know you are HIV positive, you cannot benefit from care and treatment. And when you do not have treatment, you die ," says the doctor.
Intravenous drug distribution
Another worrying situation, this time throughout the Indian Ocean, and raised during the conference: the spread of intravenous drug use – heroin and new synthetic drugs, which are conducive to the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C.
" We don't know exactly how many drug users there are, but if we don't deal with it now, it will become a huge problem like it already is in the Seychelles and Mauritius. We have convincing examples right next to Madagascar. The Seychelles is the country where drug use is the highest in the world since 10% of the Seychelles population is affected by this chronic disease ," recalls the immunologist.
At the closing ceremony on Thursday evening, the various stakeholders in the fight agreed to " reinvigorate their response to HIV " throughout the region. The results of the national survey on the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women, currently being conducted by the Ministry of Health, should be known in the first quarter of 2025. They should provide good indicators to guide the strategy for combating the epidemic on Malagasy soil.
"The data is frightening": warning on the spread of HIV in Madagascar
The 20th edition of the Indian Ocean HIV Symposium ended on Thursday in Antananarivo. Doctors, healthcare workers, authorities and donors met one last time to establish several observations and propose solutions to the AIDS epidemic. The opportunity to shine a spotlight on very alarming realities in Madagascar and some of its neighboring islands.
Published on:10/25/2024 - 12:30
By : RFI
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
Projections estimate that 76,000 Malagasy people will be infected with HIV in 2024. The experts met at the conference are much more pessimistic. " This is a low projection. From what we see on the ground, this figure is at least twice as high ," they say.
" The lack of data gives the impression that there is no problem, but that is not true! And if we do nothing, there will soon be an explosion in the country like we have seen in South Africa, Tanzania, Eswatini or Botswana ," warns Jude Padayachy, director of UNAIDS in Madagascar , Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius.
" The little data we have is frightening ," he continues. " For example, we screened 1,300 students at the University of Tamatave last month and 1.33% of them are infected. At the University of Majunga, it's 1.4%. In Ambanja, we screened pregnant women in a clinic and 10% of them were HIV carriers. This is serious! If nothing changes, we're going to have a big, big problem in Madagascar in the years to come. "
“ Not enough tests to meet needs ”
On the island, screening tests are supposed to be free and available in all basic health centers , confirms the UNAIDS representative. But the reality is quite different: " There are not enough tests to meet all the needs ," concedes Jude Padayachy.
Also, the doctors – starting with Dr Catherine Gaud, immunologist and founder of the conference – openly pleaded with the authorities and donors for an urgent and massive supply of HIV screening tests to the island.
" Madagascar has been forgotten among African countries. However, screening is an essential point, it is the beginning of care. If you do not know you are HIV positive, you cannot benefit from care and treatment. And when you do not have treatment, you die ," says the doctor.
Intravenous drug distribution
Another worrying situation, this time throughout the Indian Ocean, and raised during the conference: the spread of intravenous drug use – heroin and new synthetic drugs, which are conducive to the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C.
" We don't know exactly how many drug users there are, but if we don't deal with it now, it will become a huge problem like it already is in the Seychelles and Mauritius. We have convincing examples right next to Madagascar. The Seychelles is the country where drug use is the highest in the world since 10% of the Seychelles population is affected by this chronic disease ," recalls the immunologist.
At the closing ceremony on Thursday evening, the various stakeholders in the fight agreed to " reinvigorate their response to HIV " throughout the region. The results of the national survey on the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women, currently being conducted by the Ministry of Health, should be known in the first quarter of 2025. They should provide good indicators to guide the strategy for combating the epidemic on Malagasy soil.
