€1 million investment in modernised HIV therapies

An investment of €1 million is being budgeted for a project through which the current treatment available to HIV patients locally will be changed to a different therapy as advised by international clinical guidelines, a government spokesperson informed this newsroom.

The Central Procurement and Supplies Unit (CPSU) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for companies, joint ventures and consortiums to put in place the aforementioned guidelines, whilst the CPSU wishes to provide an integrated service offering a variety of treatments, follow-up services and even education.

There are currently 450 HIV patients being monitored by the HIV Clinic at Mater Dei, 362 of whom are receiving the treatment currently available.

According to statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the year 2017 saw another year of disturbing numbers of new HIV diagnoses in the WHO European Region. Rates of HIV diagnoses have increased by 50 per cent in Malta, alongside countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

This could potentially be attributed to increased public

awareness and people being encouraged to be tested for HIV, although nothing can be ruled out.

Goals for Malta

Apart from the changes in therapy, self-testing HIV kits were also made available at the GU clinic at Mater Dei Hospital as well as from various local pharmacies recently.

“These self-testing kits allow a person to test themselves for HIV discretely and at their own convenience. At the GU clinic, these tests are free and provide a result within 20 minutes.”

It was decided in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that EU member states would do everything possible to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The following set of goals has been established to achieve this by 2020: • By 2020, 90 per cent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV sta

tus • By 2020, 90 per cent of all people with a diagnosed HIV infection will re

ceive sustained antiretroviral therapy • By 2020, 90 per cent of all those who have received anti-retroviral therapy will have viral suppression The spokesperson maintained that whilst Malta is achieving excellent results in the second and third categories, there is still a lot of work to be done to increase the number of people who are aware of their HIV status. Making self-testing kits available will help bring the figure towards the desired 90 per cent.

HIV does not discriminate

Last November, The Malta Independent on Sunday spoke to Clayton Mercieca, Community Manager at Allied Rainbow Communities (ARC), who had taken matters into his own hands and posted an educational video of him using the HIV self-testing kit.

He said that the stigma attached to HIV in Malta means that discussing it is still an issue. Many of those who are HIV positive are too scared to talk about it for fear of being labelled or judged.

Apart from improving awareness of the self-testing kit, Mercieca said that there is a lack of education regarding sexual diseases and the procedure of PrEP. As a rule, HIV does not discriminate and everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, should test themselves. Mercieca and ARC have approached the Health Promotion and Diseases Prevention Services regarding the fact that there needs to be more focus on HIV which, unlike other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) that can be treated, is a life-long condition for which long-term care is expensive.

At present, ARC continues to provide information and help to those who request it and Mercieca hopes that the video will inform others regarding self-testing, especially those who are unaware of the kit itself.

World Health Organisation facts

The World Health Organisation, alongside the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has published the ‘HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2017 data’.

In 2017, there were 25,353 people diagnosed with HIV in 30 of the 31 countries of the EU.

HIV continues to increase among men who have sex with men (MSM), accounting for 38 per cent of all new HIV diagnoses in 2017. Although the report notes the decline in MSM cases, there has been a substantial increase reported in Malta in recent years. In 2008, 28 HIV cases were reported, whilst in 2017, this number had increased to 45.

Statistics show that the number of men who were diagnosed with HIV is higher than women. In 2017, 35 men were diagnosed, of whom 23 were diagnosed as a result of same-sex activity. The number the previous year was 51. HIV diagnoses in people infected through heterosexual contact was only 17 people.

The report also goes into further details regarding the age of those who were diagnosed with HIV in 2017. The youngest person to be diagnosed was a female in the 20-25 years age group. The 25-29 group included one female and three males. The number of males increases in the age group 3039, with 13 males and five females having a positive HIV diagnosis. There were two females and nine males in the 40-49 age group whilst in the 50+ group there was only one female and nine males.

With regard to AIDs, Malta reported no cases in 2017, alongside Iceland, Andorra and Monaco.

The statistics show that the incidence of HIV continues to increase amongst males and mainly men who are having sexual relations with other men. In general, the report indicates that there is a growing trend towards earlier diagnosis, which has increased significantly over the last decade. This indicates an improvement in case identification and more effective testing policies. The report notes that more frequent testing and the link between care and the use of formal and informal PrEP may also have had a part in the fall in the number of HIV diagnoses in other countries, which is why Malta needs to implement and promote frequent testing and care to reduce the number of people with HIV.