Staff, patients and the surrounding community of Lae’s Centre of Mercy Health Centre, commemorated World AIDS Day on 1st December, with Bishop of Lae Diocese, Bishop Rozario Menezes.
Their theme ‘Pinisim HIV: Wankain Luksave, Nek bilong yumi’.
During the speeches, a mother living with HIV stepped forward and spoke openly about her experiences living with the virus. She also health workers for the work they do and support they provide for those living with HIV.
The HIV-positive woman is a proud mother to two children, both of whom are healthy and HIV-free. She shared that her commitment to the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) helped her live a normal life, and even start a family.
Since 2013, Centre of Mercy Health Centre registered 85 negative babies born to 52 positive mothers.
The clinic’s Health Integration Officer Samantha Tirang said, “Our statistics show that since 2013, we have 566 HIV-positive patients registered in our database. Only 325 are actively on ART. Others either transferred or are lost to follow up case,” Tirang said.
Two other Catholic run health facilities also commemorated World AIDS Day, where more than a hundred tests were conducted; this includes Centre Of Mercy clinic. Tirang said this is one of the highest number of tests done in a single day for the diocese.
She added that some had even arranged in advance to be tested on World AIDS Day, and so testing will continue into Friday 3rd December, 2021.