Peep Sierra Leone

The Director of the National Aids Secretariat, Dr. Brtrima Kargbo has told journalists in a press briefing called by the Business Coalition Against Aids in Sierra Leone (BLAASL) on Monday 12th October, that the AIDS pandemic in Sierra Leone is slowing down rather than going up as some pundits have predicted.

Dr. Kargbo said that a survey carried out in 2005 showed that people infected with the virus was just 0.9% of the population but in 2005 it went up to 1.5% and since then it has remained at 1.5%.

Dr. Kargbo credited this development to the awareness created by NAS.

“Testing cites have increase from a low of just 45 five years ago to 38% today,” Dr. Kargbo disclosed.  “And treatment cites have gone up from 2 to one hundred and eleven”.

The chairperson of BCAASL which is an organisation that is set up to create the awareness among middle class people in the formal sector that AIDS is for real, Madam Alice Onomoke, commended the strides taken by the National AIDS Secretariat in lessening the stigma that was associated with the virus.

For the workings of her organisation she said that they work towards discharging discrimination against those with the virus at their place of work.

“We try to build confidence in the private sector that HIV is not some form of communicable disease that can be contacted by association.” Madam Onomoke told journalists.

The Country Coordinator for UN AIDS, Madam Mulenesh Tennagashan disclosed that approximately 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide and that the labour force has host over 28 million people to AIDS which is very alarming, she said.