Fight against HIV/AIDS with voluntary support from collaborators

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 2 (ACN) Lisdanay Escalona Sosa takes part in her free time, and without receiving any compensation, to prevent the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in conversations with students from junior high and high school.

The young woman, a traumatology technician at the José Luis Miranda Pediatric Hospital in Villa Clara, has been supporting the prevention of the disease with another group of people for a decade, because despite the work and many other situations that require a space, keeping active fills her with love for others.

The work with the students satisfies her, although most of them remain silent about the transmission of AIDS, but she is sure that the message reaches them, she told Cuban News Agency.

Yumislaidys Pérez Morales, a psychology graduate and specialist in HIV prevention from the Center for Prevention and Health Promotion in Villa Clara, explained that from January to November last the mother-to-child transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and congenital syphilis was eliminated.

She recalled that Cuba, with an economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States for over 60 years, was the first country in the world certified by the World Health Organization to eliminate the spread of the disease from mother to newborn, in 2015.

It meant that the prevention work was more difficult during this year due to the need of social distancing caused by the COVID-19, however, the work continued through social networks, telephone calls and meetings with few people to keep the distance, mainly.

From January to November, 69 people were detected positive with HIV-AIDS in the territory of Villa Clara, she said, compared to 115 at the same time last year.

The country's financial difficulties, largely magnified by the siege caused by the blockade and the situation of the pandemic, meant that the shortage of some back roads forced changes in therapy, but no sick person was left without treatment, she said.

Perez Morales explained that all the health areas have a consultation of HIV-AIDS and a counseling in the area as well as another anonymous one, in the Chiqui Gomez polyclinic, all the ways allow the realization of exams, totally free, to know the existence or not of the disease.