Cuban health minister highlights community leadership in HIV response

 HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 1 (ACN) Cuban Public Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda highlighted today community leadership in the response to the HIV epidemic, on the occasion of World AIDS Day, celebrated on December 1.

From the website of the Ministry of Health ( MINSAP by its Spanish acronym), Portal Miranda recognized the key role played by the organizations led by the populations most affected by HIV, united under the slogan "Let the communities lead".

The head of MINSAP stressed that it is essential to empower communities to develop their own strategies and reach out to those who need it most, offering information, HIV self-testing, antiretrovirals such as PrEP and treatment to achieve an undetectable viral load, thus contributing to cut the chain of transmission.
He also reaffirmed the commitment to strengthen and support communities in their vital work to combat HIV.

Around 32,000 people are currently living with HIV in Cuba, and around 6,000 deaths have been registered since the beginning of the epidemic in 1986.

96.8 % of diagnosed cases in Cuba currently receive treatment with free antiretroviral drugs, and more than 80% have a single tablet in their regimen, which favors adherence to treatment.

Since 2015, it was possible to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba, a significant achievement in the fight against these diseases and a sign of the country's effort, and specifically of the health sector, to address this virus.

World AIDS Day was created in October 1987 by the World Health Assembly of the United Nations (UN) as a way of joining efforts in various countries to fight the disease caused by the HIV virus.