- World Day for the Fight against HIV/AIDS is commemorated every December 1st.
- Only the IMSS attends to 82 thousand infected people.
- One of the greatest achievements is that 91% of beneficiaries with HIV infection have an undetectable viral load.
There are highly relevant health problems that can never go to the background. HIV is one of the largest and despite the progress made in recent years it still maintains a high presence in countries like Mexico. In fact, as of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was accused that there was a shortage of drugs at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).
Since 2020, various demonstrations have been held outside hospitals. The main complaint of people is that they are denied delivery of antiretrovirals necessary to combat this infection and prevent its evolution into AIDS.
For its part, today the IMSS reported that 96 percent of their beneficiaries living with HIV receive antiretroviral treatment. With this, he “presumed” that it is a figure higher than the goal established by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) which is 95 percent.
The general director of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, said that the Institute carries out many efforts on a daily basis focused on the prevention, detection, treatment and follow-up of people living with HIV. Among them are the optimization of antiretroviral treatments, participation in massive detection campaigns, combined prevention through detection in pregnant women and in the population at risk of acquiring this disease.
IMSS programs for patients with HIV
Likewise, he mentioned that the implementation of universal pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), or tools such as virtual Chatbot care, allow a better understanding of the population living with this disease.
“Education protocols are being implemented, awareness so that discrimination does not occur in the IMSS and there is always dignified and equal treatment.”
It reported that from July 2021 to June 2022, the IMSS provided medical care to 82,716 people living with HIV.
Today is World AIDS Day.
From the IMSS, efforts focused on the prevention, detection, treatment and follow-up of people living with HIV are carried out daily.
For more information visit the page: https://t.co/mF5AxVIpwA pic.twitter.com/ZECJir4QgU— Zoé Robledo (@zoerobledo) December 1, 2022
For her part, Dr. Sandra Treviño Pérez, head of the Special Programs Area of the Clinical Excellence Division of the Health Innovation Coordination, highlighted that the Institute provides care to 82,000 people living with HIV. Each one receives antiretroviral treatment considered highly active due to its great effectiveness, in addition to a comprehensive review of their health twice a year and laboratory studies to detect any side effects.
He highlighted that currently, 91 percent of beneficiaries with HIV infection have been able to have an undetectable viral load, “it does not mean that they do not have the infection, but that the levels are so low that the standard viral load tests that determine the amount of virus in the body practically do not detect it.
He indicated that based on the triple optimization strategy implemented at the sectoral level, 96 percent of patients with antiretroviral treatment at the IMSS take one of the two latest-generation therapies based on integrase inhibitors, mainly with bictegravir and in lower proportion with dolutegravir.
“Currently, treatment is accessible much earlier than it was in the past, due to international standards that establish that a person at the time of detection, regardless of viral load and CD4 count, should start treatment. use of antiretrovirals.
HIV cases in Mexico
Dr. Treviño Pérez indicated that although the number of new cases of people with HIV has remained relatively stable, registering an average of 12,000 a year, Since 2020, the Institute has joined the promotion of practices such as HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP, respectively), which are effective in preventing infection.
He explained that PrEP consists of taking two medications daily that help prevent HIV infection, “an extremely innovative strategy that places the Institute at the forefront of what is done in other countries”; Regarding PEP, it is applied when the person had some kind of risky contact, takes a treatment that lasts one month and is highly effective in preventing infection.
He recalled that Social Security has a Chatbot, a digital tool that through WhatsApp the beneficiary can send a message to be guided and linked to receive medical care, link to PrEP and PEP, in a joint effort between the addresses of Medical Benefits, Operation and Evaluation and Innovation and Technological Development of the Institute.
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