Inter Press Service - September 29, 2000
Peter Richards

For instance, it is a widely held belief on the island that having sex with a virgin can cure one of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Tobago, with a population of 51,000, is the smaller island in the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago - combined population 1.3 million. Official figures show that last year, more than 18 percent of the deaths recorded on the island were AIDS-related.

"The rate of AIDS in Tobago is 100 percent higher than the reported rate for the country as a whole," A recent Law Association Working Paper exploring the need for AIDS related legislation stated.

Since 1982, over 17,000 persons in Trinidad and Tobago have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and according to Health Minister Dr. Hamza Rafeeq, at least two persons are dying daily as a result of AIDS.

The new survey, conducted by the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) and the Tobago AIDS Society, and which was completed in April this year, found there were a number of commonly held misconceptions about the disease.

The report notes that many Tobagonians believe that "a dose of bush medicine" can cure the disease and that one can be infected through mosquito bites and toilet seats.

Lack of communication between parents and children was also identified, with the study noting that "sex is something people do, but do not talk about". FPATT chairman, Gerry Brooks said that almost 20 percent of the 676 young people surveyed still believed in these myths.

He said the survey showed that young people in Tobago "were in need of help" and that his association was willing to work with other civic minded groups and organisations to create health and sex education programmes "which must be delivered from as early as primary school."

"We must listen to the voice of Tobago's youth and heed their call for customised counselling, guidance services and youth friendly centres, which provide confidential and private specialised health services," he said.

In Tobago, there is an HIV infection rate of 3.5 percent in 14 to 19 year olds and 3.6 percent in 20 to 24 year olds. "It is clear the preservation of the lives of these young people must become a priority national issue," Brooks said.

In February this year, official figures showed that since 1990, when statistics on HIV/AIDS were last collected in Tobago, 395 cases have been recorded of which 277 people have died with females outnumbering their male counterparts by a nine to one margin within the 15 to 24 age group.

Director of the Medical Research Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago, Professor Courtenay Bartholomew said in 1999, there were about 8,000 requests for HIV tests in the two islands, with as many as 1,100 testing positive with the HIV anti-body.

"In short there are many more who are positive in this island, but are unaware of it, and have not been tested," he said.

Chairman and founder of the AIDS Foundation, Dr. Colin Furlonge warns that in less than 10 years, the AIDS epidemic will move from urban to rural areas. "We are expecting to see a rise in infected cases in the rural areas soon," he said.

The survey in Tobago found that the average age of first-time sexual encounters for young people was 14 years. In the survey group, 6.5 percent of the respondents had their first sexual encounter before the age of 10, while 25 percent by age 12 and 50 percent by age 15.

"The overall young ages of sexual initiation reaffirm that young people between the ages of 10 and 24 are at high risk of acquiring an HIV infection," the study reported.

It said such findings were consistent with a number of recent Caribbean surveys that have revealed low ages of sexual initiation and lower ages of first sex among males than females.

In April this year, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), which along with the Dutch government and the German Technical Co- operation Agency helped carry out the FPATT survey, disclosed that the AIDS epidemic was claiming the lives of an estimated 140 persons in the Caribbean monthly.

According to the CAREC figures, last year an estimated 57,000 adults and children were newly infected with the virus while some 360,000 persons were living with the disease.

The Tobago findings also provide a possible explanation why HIV rates are higher among teenage girls, since most of their partners were reported to be about four years older and "therefore having more years of sexual experience".

"Girls prefer men who drive cars and who have money to buy them things," the survey noted. It described as "disturbing" the fact that the majority of sexually active teenagers did not use condoms.

The findings which were discussed at a three-day workshop in Tobago this week, comes as Trinidad and Tobago is apparently on the verge of agreeing to take part in an AIDS vaccine trial with the Vanderbilt University in the United States.

Recent media reports say that an ethics committee headed by chief medical officer Dr. Rawle Edwards after a year of deliberations has recommended to government that the vaccine trial be allowed under the guidance of the Medical Research Foundation.

The governments of Haiti and Brazil gave their approval for the trials in June. The AIDS research centres in these countries and Trinidad and Tobago have been working as a consortium on the issue.

"We have been ready for a long time, I don't know what the Minister (of Health) is waiting on," Professor Bartholomew said.

Trinidad was approached because of the high rate of HIV infection in the country. The trial here will involve 40 HIV-negative volunteers some of whom will be injected with a genetically engineered vaccine developed by the Vanderbilt AIDS Vaccine Evaluation Unit of the Vanderbilt University.

The Vanderbilt vaccine programme was established in 1987 and since then nearly 500 people have participated in its trials.

The vaccine uses the canary pox virus which cannot reproduce in mammals. The virus is loaded with inactive HIV genes, and there is absolutely no risk that the vaccine can cause HIV infection, the university says.

Side effects of the AIDS vaccine in previous studies have been limited to mild fever and muscle soreness.

The consortium has two years in which to complete the trials. (END/IPS/HE/pr/da/00)
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