Got TIPS or BREAKING NEWS? Please call 1-284-442-8000 direct/can also WhatsApp same number or Email ALL news to:newsvino@outlook.com;                               ads call 1-284-440-6666

'Break the silence, know your status' – HIV/AIDS volunteer

- HIV/AIDS Foundation Chairman Cid Nava says numbers are rising annually
"We got tested" was the message of these young people who took the courage and advantage of the free testing at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park yesterday, World AIDS Day. Photo: VINO
Volunteers released balloons to the number of persons that were tested and found to be living with HIV in the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO
Volunteers released balloons to the number of persons that were tested and found to be living with HIV in the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO
In his message to the Territory Mr Cid Nava (right) stated that he woke up yesterday morning to a great message from US President Barack Obama. He said
In his message to the Territory Mr Cid Nava (right) stated that he woke up yesterday morning to a great message from US President Barack Obama. He said "we have made extraordinary progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.” Photo: VINO
Getting tested - it was a commendable sight at the number of men who took their health seriously by getting tested. Photo: VINO
Getting tested - it was a commendable sight at the number of men who took their health seriously by getting tested. Photo: VINO
Getting pinned means supporting the cause and encouraging person to get tested. Photo: VINO
Getting pinned means supporting the cause and encouraging person to get tested. Photo: VINO
Getting pinned means supporting the cause and encouraging person to get tested. Photo: VINO
Getting pinned means supporting the cause and encouraging person to get tested. Photo: VINO
Early detection is the way to go. Photo: VINO
Early detection is the way to go. Photo: VINO
Early detection is the way to go. Photo: VINO
Early detection is the way to go. Photo: VINO
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – “There are many persons in the BVI living with HIV and they do not even know it and persons need to come out and get tested,” said Chairman of the BVI HIV/AIDS Foundation Mr Cid Nava.

Worldwide yesterday December 1, 2014 World Aids Day was observed with messages that ranged wide but all with the common aim of providing care and support to persons living with and affected by the infection, having persons knowing their status and fighting to bring the infection cases to zero at the earliest time possible.

In the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park yesterday the HIV/AIDS Foundation team of volunteers was out in their usual spirit of volunteerism encouraging persons to get tested and doing testing on the spot.

At the time of visiting the scene more than twenty persons had already been tested for the day and the non-governmental organization had set a target of 50 persons to be tested for the day. It was there while chatting with this news site that one volunteer who has been with the programme for a number of years now insisted that it is time that the silence is broken as HIV/AIDS is real, it is very present in the Virgin Islands and the numbers are steadily rising.

“We have to get to the level to understanding that HIV is real, yes it is tabooed because it is mainly spread by the sex act, but we have sex, we enjoy sex, many persons do not protected themselves when having sex and the virus is spread that way,” said the volunteer.

She further said that the safest thing is to know one’s status at earliest allowing them to take the necessary measure be they positive or negative. “If positive, treatment and care are available. Things are at such stage that babies are being born negative to positive parents, there are discordant couples living and having sex together for years and are happy and many persons living with HIV because they took action look better than many of us who walking the street with a negative status.”

Discordant couples are those where one partner is HIV-infected and the other is not, where a couple is defined as two persons in an ongoing sexual relationship and each of these persons is referred to as a “partner” in the relationship.

In his message to the Territory Mr Nava stated that he woke up yesterday morning to a great message from US President Barack Obama. He said "we have made extraordinary progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

“Just over three decades ago, when we knew only the devastation HIV inflicted, those living with it had to fight just to be treated with dignity and compassion, and since the first cases of AIDS were reported, tens of millions of vibrant men and women have lost their lives to this deadly virus. Today, we have transformed what it means to live with HIV/AIDS,” said Mr Nava.

More effective prevention, treatment, and care now save millions of lives while awareness has soared and research has surged. “This World AIDS Day, we come together to honour all those who have been touched by HIV/AIDS and celebrate the promising public health and scientific advances that have brought us closer to our goal of an AIDS-free generation.”

He said that knowing your status is step one in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This is why they created the campaign for the Virgin Islands (VI) appropriately named “Know Your Status”. Step two is Prevention, and making sure that if you are negative, that you stay that way and that if you are positive, that you are careful not to transmit the disease to others. Mothers need to know their status when they are pregnant in order to avoid having a child being born positive. With the advances in medicine today, all of this is possible,” he said. 

Most important of all, is to create awareness about this disease that continues to grow in our Territory said Mr Nava while noting that too many people still do not know that they are infected and they continue to bear the burden of discrimination and stigma. HIV is something that parents need to talk to their children about and being tested should be a yearly routine for everyone who is exposed. 

“The goal of the foundation is to build a society here in the VI where every person has access to life-extending care, regardless of their economical of background, nationality, or who they are or whom they love. The world is fighting to have an AIDS free generation and we have to be a part of this fight,” he said. 

While the foundation gets some monies from the Government for the work they are doing in this cause they say that more funding is needed especially as the number of new cases are steadily increasing and the work load on volunteers and the foundation is steadily getting greater.

Last night at The Moorings many of the volunteers who have been giving of their service in the area of HIV/AIDS awareness and other programmes were awarded. The details of that ceremony will come in a subsequent story on this news site.

6 Responses to “'Break the silence, know your status' – HIV/AIDS volunteer”



Create a comment


Create a comment

Disclaimer: Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) welcomes your thoughts, feedback, views, bloggs and opinions. However, by posting a blogg you are agreeing to post comments or bloggs that are relevant to the topic, and that are not defamatory, liable, obscene, racist, abusive, sexist, anti-Semitic, threatening, hateful or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be excluded permanently from making contributions. Please view our declaimer above this article. We thank you in advance for complying with VINO's policy.

Follow Us On

Disclaimer: All comments posted on Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) are the sole views and opinions of the commentators and or bloggers and do not in anyway represent the views and opinions of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Virgin Islands News Online and its parent company.