Five years ago, 189 countries committed to setting the 1st of December in every year to key in on Aids and its global impact to work together for solutions. Today in Belize, that meant taking HIV tests. Health statistics show that only 10% of the population has been tested. So, this year the effort was all about testing more Belizeans. The National aids program brought out its equipment and staff in every district to conduct counseling and testing services to anyone who wanted to do so. In Belize City that meant that tents and a mobile unit were deployed in the Bliss parking lot. Today I stopped by to find that despite what the perception may be, there are many who really want to know what their status is to better plan their lives.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Our news team got to the testing site before ten, and there were at least 20 people already in line, voluntarily waiting to be tested for HIV. A notable show of initiative and interest, and to complement it, Dr. Marvin Manzanero, the Director of the National Aids Program, says the process is simple.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Dir. - National Aids Program
"We are doing a brief counseling session, trying to validate your responses, and then you go in for a test which is strictly confidential. There is not really a name attached to it, it is just by numbers. One hour later you come back for your result and regardless of what your result is, you go a brief counseling session again."
Things moved along quickly today and persons of al ages participated. 56 year old Eliodoro Amaya, Alma Middleton and 18-year-old Victoria Ramos came out for the test. And while they are representative of the population most at risk for the infection, they are here for one simple reason: to know.
Eliodoro Amaya, 56 years old
"I came to get my test on HIV because it is important for us to know what our status because HIV is growing fast in Belize."
Victoria Ramos, 18 years old
"Everybody should know if they have AIDS or not because it will be safer for them to know if there are any medication or if there are in need of help, and so people can help them and get counseling about it."
Alfonso Noble,
Explain to me why are you here?
Alma Middleton,
"You want to hear my heartbeat first? I just want to know my status, what I have been doing for these years."
Alfonso Noble,
Why did you see it necessary to come here? Obviously this is a very serious consideration for people to be making, to come and get an HIV and AIDS test because of the implications it has but why did you see it necessary?
Alma Middleton,
"Actually I have two girls, babies, and then I think that in the long term they will need me more, being that they are very young and then if there is life after today, then they will be there for me. Actually I did one three years ago but then at this moment I would really want to be sure."
But knowing is one thing, what about the unthinkable prospect of being HIV positive? That's the soul-searching question each person going through the session had to ask themselves.
Alfonso Noble,
What happens if you are HIV positive?
Victoria Ramos,
"I don't know. I just hope that my father and my family will still love me as me."
Alfonso Noble,
But you don't know and what is it like right now waiting that one hour for your results to come?
Victoria Ramos,
"Very very nervous and I just hope that I am negative because I am not that sexually active."
Eliodoro Amaya,
"This is the second time. The last time was in November but everything was good but now I don't know. I want to know again. I can't do nothing if I have HIV. Everybody has to be careful. It is a big problem in the world now. Today I was watching the TV, the news, and in India they have five million people with HIV. It is a big problem, world problem."
A world problem that will only be addressed through education and testing. Testing to know if you are positive or negative…and if positive what to do to stay alive.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero,
"If the result is positive, that same blood specimen needs to be sent to Central Lab for a confirmatory test and then you will need to get all the whole pile of exams that you normally get if you are positive to evaluate whether you need treatment or whether you just have to go because not everybody who is positive needs to be on treatment. There stages in the disease. It is in the later stages that you eventually require treatment."
Alfonso Noble,
And if you are negative?
Dr. Marvin Manzanero,
"The intention is for you to continue to be negative, continuing to practice safe sex along with a healthy lifestyle in general. If you are negative, some people might know they have risk factors, the fact that you are negative, just so you can have a peaceful state of mind and continue to practice safe healthy lifestyle. If you are positive then you have to make the necessary changes for you to stop spreading the infection. When you have HIV infection it doesn't mean you have AIDS. AIDS is the later stage of the disease."
Alfonso Noble,
Some people might argue that knowing that you are positive, you will become a complete wreck, that because of the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS, you will become a complete wreck.
Dr. Marvin Manzanero,
"That's what we are trying to go away from here. HIV/AIDS is like I had mentioned on Wednesday, it is a chronic disease and you can go on to have a lifespan with medication which can go beyond ten years."
Today Dr. Beverley Barnett along with her entire PAHO staff were out supporting the campaign and as they did they all took their tests. Barnett says she did it because an HIV test is nothing to be afraid of.
Dr. Beverley Barnett, PAHO
"I look at it in the same way as I look at a blood sugar test. You are hoping that it is what you want it to be. You are hoping your blood sugar is normal, you are hoping your HIV is negative. The fact is that once you know, then you can take appropriate steps so as we say, what will be, will be."
And maybe that's the same attitude I took as again for the second time in three years I publicly took the test. There is counseling, blood is drawn and I got the results. It's a simple process and within a matter of one hour the test result is handed to me and for the record I'm negative. Reporting for 7NEWS, Alfonso Noble.
Later on in the newscast we'll tell you about the Aids awareness youth concert at the Memorial Park.
