By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN officials have made a commitment to being the first country by 2030 to eradicate the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), especially in regaining footing as the world’s leader in low mother-to-child transmission.

Health Minister Dr Duane Sands made the statement yesterday when he told reporters that officials had lost some ground on the transmission from mother to child. 

As a result, he said, health officials have modified the approach to HIV to ensure everyone who is tested is afforded access to therapy.

Dr Sands was responding to international reports that a second HIV patient is in remission following a bone-marrow transplant. Researchers have also expressed optimism that they are closing in on a cure.

He said there were about 5,500 people with HIV, – the virus that causes AIDS – now in the Bahamas.

 “As you can imagine,” he said, “this was a landmark revelation, a landmark report. This is the second patient who has been documented to be HIV-free after bone marrow transplantation. Now understand that getting a bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplantation is a big deal.

“These patients had cancer. They would have gotten complete eradication of their immune system and then they would have been transplanted with a particular cell line that was found to be resistant to the receptor that the HIV virus attaches to.

“So even though this is landmark this is certainly not ready for prime time and it is certainly not the approach that we would want to take for everyone suffering with HIV. But I will say that the Bahamas has made a commitment to try to be the first country to eradicate HIV in the world and so we have looked at whether we can once again become the world leader,” he continued.

“The Bahamas was once the world leader in vertical transmission or mother to child transmission of HIV. We kind of lost some ground.

“We now believe that with modifying our approach to HIV to make sure that everybody is tested (and that they) have access to therapy and that the therapy suppresses the virus.

“Certainly by 2030 we believe that the Bahamas, if not the first country, will certainly be among the first countries to eliminate HIV as a scourge.”