Good turn-out for free HIV/Aids screening |06 December 2017

One hundred and fifty people took part in a free screening exercise for HIV/Aids organised on Saturday by the Lions Club of Seychelles in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

The screening, held in Market Street, was done with rapid test procedure and the results were provided in about 15 minutes.

The activity started at 9am and ended at 3pm.

Among those present to carry out the activity were Dr Viveg (Zone chairperson), Dr Sasi Kumar (President Lions Club), Lions Club members, doctors and nurses from the Ministry of Health.

Dr Viveg said he was really impressed with the huge turnout which showed that the population is really eager to know their health status.

Dr Kumar mentioned that this year the Lions Club has added free screening of HIV/Aids on their annual calendar.

He thanked the Ministry of Health and Lions of Seychelles for their excellent support in making this activity a success.

He said the location was excellent and everyone could easily check their status.

To date, Aids has killed between 28.9 million and 41.5 million people worldwide, and an estimated 36.7 million people are living with HIV, making it one of the most important global public health issues in recorded history. Thanks to recent improved access to antiretroviral treatment in many regions of the world, the death rate from Aids epidemic has decreased since its peak in 2005 (1 million in 2016, compared to 1.9 million in 2005).