The coordinator of the national AIDS control program at the Directorate of Basic Health Care at the Ministry of Health, Samir Mokrani, said on Sunday that 41 children from birth to 14 years old are being treated against the immunodeficiency virus. (HIV-AIDS) during the year 2021, including 5 new cases during the same period, most of which are cases of transmission of the infection from mother to newborn, emphasizing the importance to achieve a goal of zero cases of transmission of the virus.
In a statement to TAP, he added that the national program has implemented a strategy to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to newborn through early and free screening of the virus from the first symptoms of pregnancy, indicating that this strategy has been generalized in 10 governorates, and will be generalized in the rest of the governorates.
This strategy essentially aims to eliminate the transmission of the virus from mother to child, he said, adding that the rate of contamination among children remains low.
The coordinator of the national program for the fight against AIDS underlined in this regard that the rate of awareness of the dangers among citizens has regressed as regards the taking of precautions in sexual relations, pointing in this regard to the recording of new infections among young people.
In addition, he indicated that 1532 people are treated against the virus during 2021, specifying that many cases are afraid to announce their disease, or do not want to take the treatment for fear of discrimination and stigmatization.
He stressed the need to go through 3 steps to avoid the risks of the virus, which are prevention first, testing second and treatment, urging community members to be aware of the importance of treatment and the dangers unprotected sex.
It should be noted that the number of people living with HIV in Tunisia in 2020 has reached around 4,500 cases, of which only 51% know that they are infected with this disease, according to an old statement by the coordinator of the national program to fight against AIDS, stressing that no data is available concerning the rest of the infected people in Tunisia, including those who do not know that they are infected or have not declared their infection to the medical services, which makes their fate unknown and exposes the rest of society to the risk of infection with this virus.
“The program will work during the years 2022 and 2023 to inform irregular migrants in coordination with international organizations to identify the real number, encourage them to seek treatment and sensitize them on the need to avoid unprotected sex and on the risks of the virus in the absence of treatment”, he added, specifying that among them a certain number receive care, which does not reflect the real number of infected people, who prefer not to declare their illness or to do being screened for legal considerations (for fear of deportation).