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February 15, 2008

Brazil: HIV-Positive Need to Seek Earlier Treatment

Brazil plans to set up diagnostic centers in remote areas and increase advertising campaigns to get people with HIV/AIDS to seek treatment sooner, health authorities said Thursday.

Mariângela Simão, the head of the Health Ministry's National Program of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS, said many Brazilians with HIV are waiting too long to seek treatment. She cited a recent survey of 115,441 AIDS patients that showed that 44% only sought treatment when they already had severe immunological deficiencies. ''These figures are unacceptably high for a country like Brazil,'' she said.

Simão noted that those who sought treatment at an early stage lived longer and ''remained active on the job market, while those who didn't either became too weak to work or died.'' Speaking at a news conference, she blamed delays in seeking treatment on problems reaching diagnostic centers and some people's refusal to admit that they are at risk and be tested. To deal with this problem, she said the government plans to set up diagnostic centers in remote areas and increase advertising to convince people to seek treatment.

Some 600,000 Brazilians are HIV positive. The Brazilian government's anti-AIDS program, which provides free antiretroviral treatment to anyone who needs it, is considered by international organizations as a model for the developing world.

The government also distributes tens of millions of condoms each year in an effort to stem the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. (AP)

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