HIV now like malaria, thanks to improved treatment – Prof. Tih Pius
By Hansel Ngala
Thanks to improved treatment options and proper communication that has helped to dispel myths around HIV, the condition is no more different from diseases such as malaria says Prof. Tih Pius, director of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) Health Services.
“There’s been lots of observed changes in the way stigma has reduced. Many people can talk freely about HIV now and many people can go and have themselves tested in hospitals and this is through a lot of community campaigns. We’ve done a lot of educating people – that there is treatment available now and HIV is more or less like malaria which is dominant in Cameroon and most African countries” the public health expert told a BBC journalist on Thursday.
Prof. Tih went on to explain that Cameroon has come a long way from the 1980s and 1990s when the HIV epidemic was at its peak and many people lost their lives due to a lack of understanding about the condition at the time and limited or no treatment options at the time too.
He explained that those with the condition who are adhering to their treatment are leading normal lives, getting married (even to those who are not infected), and having babies who are also not infected, thanks to an effective prevention-of-mother-to-child (PMTCT) model which Tih helped spearhead in Cameroon as CBC Health Services director.
Nevertheless, he says there remain some challenges to be overcome:
“We have come a long way in fighting the HIV pandemic, but we haven’t reached epidemic control yet” he said.
“We are still far from reaching epidemic control and therefore we need to work extremely hard in case identification and therefore I want to advise health workers and policymakers that we continue to test to identify new infections and that we continue to make ARVs available so that whoever tests positive is placed on treatment and continuation of treatment should be ensured until we reach viral suppression” he added.
The 1st of December this year (like every year since 1988) was observed as World AIDS Day, a day set aside by the World Health Organization to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and to encourage testing for those who don’t know their status and the commencement of treatment for those who test positive.
According to the Cameroon Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (CAMPHIA), there are half a million people currently living with HIV in Cameroon as of April 2021 with the number of infections steadily declining thanks to effective communication and changing attitudes as mentioned by Prof. Tih earlier.
