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| Olimbi Hoxha while in an interview with VOA |
In Albania, this year, 80 people with HIV-AIDS have been newly diagnosed, including two children, while 11 deaths have occurred.
For human rights activists and medical workers, the main concern remains the diagnosis in the advanced stages of the disease, as well as the widest possible testing of the population.
In the last 10 months, 80 new cases of HIV/AIDS have been discovered in Albania, of which 61 are men and 19 are women, most of them due to unprotected sexual relations.
The average age of those affected by HIV has increased to 39.5 years, unlike other years, when those affected were much younger.
The head of the association of people living with HIV in Albania, Olimbi Hoxha, says to VOA that the same rate of spread continues, and the biggest problem continues to be the delayed diagnosis of HIV, due to the very low levels of testing even in the risk groups, even in the general population.
"This year we have two cases of infections in children; one with vertical transmission, while the other source of infection has not yet been verified. Unfortunately, we have 11 deaths, 5 of which are newly diagnosed cases this year," says Mrs. Hoxha.
This year, a tripling of HIV tests by new mothers during pregnancy has been achieved, but there is still a lot of work to be done in multiplying the tests in all age groups, experts say, and especially for the prevention of infection, while a part of most of the new cases is discovered in very advanced stages of the disease.
The anti-discrimination commissioner, Robert Gajda, says that people with HIV/AIDS are still hostage to stigmatization and stereotypes from society and public bodies, mainly due to ignorance and lack of accurate information, but meanwhile, during the process of re-evaluating the status of people with disabilities, limited exceptions are also being observed for people living with HIV from receiving payments for these groups, known locally with the acronym "kemp".
"We see with concern that people living with HIV are being excluded from the benefits of the kemp. But if you exclude them, the state must ensure proper treatment for these people. While we see an excessive zeal to exclude people from benefiting from the kemp, we do not see an equally great zeal to guarantee the necessary services for these people", says Mr. Gajda.
Exemptions from kemp payments are confirmed by at least 12 cases in the association of people living with HIV.
Ms. Hoxha says that with the establishment of the new bio-psychosocial evaluation system, it is a category that has been affected by this reform, but they are working to return the evaluations to their previous state because their disability is based on clinical data.
On the international day of the fight against AIDS, the reconstructed outpatient clinic was opened today at the Infectious Hospital, where the Minister of Health Ogerta Manastirliu spoke about wide-based testing in health institutions to keep HIV under control.
"For the year 2022, over 50,000 tests were performed, or 16% more than in 2021, especially since the number of tests regarding pregnant women has increased. So from the 1,600 women who were tested in the past years, only for the year 2022, there are over 5,000 who have been tested for HIV/AIDS", said Ms. Manastirliu.
In Albania, the state provides free treatment for all people living with HIV. Currently, 792 people receive treatment with anti-HIV drugs, of which 780 are adults and 12 are children.