Bahamas News
02-07-05, - 01:48 AM
Bahamas “More Tolerant” Of AIDS In The Workplace
The Bahama Journal
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/data/images/news/categories/clinton.jpg
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is greeted by hospital staff eager to shake his hand as he began a tour of the Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday. Clinton, who was on a three-day visit to The Bahamas, toured the Specialty Clinic which houses the AIDS ward and announced at a press briefing that the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation HIV -AIDS Initiative would fund The Bahamas programme. (BIS Photo by Derek Smith)
Bahamians are more tolerant of AIDS in the workplace, but there is much more that has to be done to help eradicate the stigma associated with the deadly disease, according to Dr. Perry Gomez, director of the National AIDS Programme.
“I think if you look at the example of AIDS in the workplace we are so far more tolerant today than we were five years ago and every year we’re getting better at that and I can tell you we have almost 1,700 persons on therapy. They’re doing well, they’re working and they are not being discriminated against on their jobs,” said Dr. Gomez, shortly after former U.S. President Bill Clinton toured the AIDS ward at Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday.
Dr. Gomez added, “We still have a problem. We still have issues that we need to address through education.”
He also told reporters that the National AIDS Programme will be expanded this year.
“We have a plan to decentralize the programme and that in turn will help with the stigma issue, but we have to have more things in place in order to do that so that patients can go any day and be tested and evaluated [at any clinic] and I think we will get there throughout the course of the year.”
As he did during his visit to The Bahamas in April, 2003, President Clinton applauded the country for being a model in how to deal with the AIDS epidemic.
“Obviously what you do here in this hospital is as good as it’s done in the world and the results show it,” he added.
Dr. Gomez said it has taken The Bahamas many years to get to the point where it is now in terms of how it deals with the deadly disease and the successes it has been able to record.
“I think it’s the result of a longstanding establishment of an AIDS programme that didn’t start in the last two or three years,” he said. “We started in 1983 when we first [found] AIDS here and it’s taken a long time to see this kind of success.”
Dr. Gomez also praised President Clinton for the work he has been doing through his foundation to help developing countries tackle AIDS.
“I think he has truly demonstrated that he is an ambassador of goodwill to all the peoples of the developing world,” he said.
President Clinton said that the work The Bahamas has done as it relates to the treatment of AIDS patients can be duplicated in many other countries.
“I think that when you can go someplace and say, you know in two years what these people did was quadruple the number of people on treatment, cut the death rate in half and end mother to child transmissions and you can do the same thing if you have the same system [is a remarkable thing],” President Clinton said.
“It doesn’t matter how many people [you’re talking about]. You can have a country as big as China or a country as big as India. If they have enough healthcare workers with the kind of dedication and kind of organizational skills and understanding that you have here, you just simply multiply it.”
He added,“One of the reasons why I was so excited about being asked to work in the Caribbean…is that I thought the population size would give us a chance to develop models that would work and then it would give hope to Africa, to India, to China, to the countries of the former Soviet Union where interestingly enough the epidemic is growing fastest.”
President Clinton also said it is important to get medicines to everyone suffering from HIV-AIDS.
“Basically, to make sure that it works, you have to do two things when you get the medicine. You have to do regular tests – as I said we also lowered the cost of those dramatically – and change the medication if it’s not working,” he said.
“Then you have to make sure the people who are taking it take it at least 80 percent of the time in order for the impact to work on their bodies. In most countries, the further you go away from the urban centres, the more difficult that would be because the people are farther and farther away from the healthcare networks.”
The Bahama Journal
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/data/images/news/categories/clinton.jpg
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is greeted by hospital staff eager to shake his hand as he began a tour of the Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday. Clinton, who was on a three-day visit to The Bahamas, toured the Specialty Clinic which houses the AIDS ward and announced at a press briefing that the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation HIV -AIDS Initiative would fund The Bahamas programme. (BIS Photo by Derek Smith)
Bahamians are more tolerant of AIDS in the workplace, but there is much more that has to be done to help eradicate the stigma associated with the deadly disease, according to Dr. Perry Gomez, director of the National AIDS Programme.
“I think if you look at the example of AIDS in the workplace we are so far more tolerant today than we were five years ago and every year we’re getting better at that and I can tell you we have almost 1,700 persons on therapy. They’re doing well, they’re working and they are not being discriminated against on their jobs,” said Dr. Gomez, shortly after former U.S. President Bill Clinton toured the AIDS ward at Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday.
Dr. Gomez added, “We still have a problem. We still have issues that we need to address through education.”
He also told reporters that the National AIDS Programme will be expanded this year.
“We have a plan to decentralize the programme and that in turn will help with the stigma issue, but we have to have more things in place in order to do that so that patients can go any day and be tested and evaluated [at any clinic] and I think we will get there throughout the course of the year.”
As he did during his visit to The Bahamas in April, 2003, President Clinton applauded the country for being a model in how to deal with the AIDS epidemic.
“Obviously what you do here in this hospital is as good as it’s done in the world and the results show it,” he added.
Dr. Gomez said it has taken The Bahamas many years to get to the point where it is now in terms of how it deals with the deadly disease and the successes it has been able to record.
“I think it’s the result of a longstanding establishment of an AIDS programme that didn’t start in the last two or three years,” he said. “We started in 1983 when we first [found] AIDS here and it’s taken a long time to see this kind of success.”
Dr. Gomez also praised President Clinton for the work he has been doing through his foundation to help developing countries tackle AIDS.
“I think he has truly demonstrated that he is an ambassador of goodwill to all the peoples of the developing world,” he said.
President Clinton said that the work The Bahamas has done as it relates to the treatment of AIDS patients can be duplicated in many other countries.
“I think that when you can go someplace and say, you know in two years what these people did was quadruple the number of people on treatment, cut the death rate in half and end mother to child transmissions and you can do the same thing if you have the same system [is a remarkable thing],” President Clinton said.
“It doesn’t matter how many people [you’re talking about]. You can have a country as big as China or a country as big as India. If they have enough healthcare workers with the kind of dedication and kind of organizational skills and understanding that you have here, you just simply multiply it.”
He added,“One of the reasons why I was so excited about being asked to work in the Caribbean…is that I thought the population size would give us a chance to develop models that would work and then it would give hope to Africa, to India, to China, to the countries of the former Soviet Union where interestingly enough the epidemic is growing fastest.”
President Clinton also said it is important to get medicines to everyone suffering from HIV-AIDS.
“Basically, to make sure that it works, you have to do two things when you get the medicine. You have to do regular tests – as I said we also lowered the cost of those dramatically – and change the medication if it’s not working,” he said.
“Then you have to make sure the people who are taking it take it at least 80 percent of the time in order for the impact to work on their bodies. In most countries, the further you go away from the urban centres, the more difficult that would be because the people are farther and farther away from the healthcare networks.”