WHILE THE MAJORITY of HIV/AIDS patients in care are doing well, they only represent half of the total population living with the disease in Barbados.

Dr Nicholas Adomakoh, clinical director of the Ladymeade Reference Unit, said they were currently treating 1 000 patients out of about 2 000 infected with HIV/AIDS, believing the rest stayed away due to stigma and discrimination.

Adomakoh was speaking to the Press this week at the Hilton Barbados during a coffee break at the third Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society Caribbean International HIV workshop on, Sustainability, Networks And Opportunities In The Fight Against AIDS".

"In anticipation of trying to improve that, we have built capacity to provide voluntary counselling and testing training in the polyclinics and its catchment areas.

"I am encouraged by the response to the community testing events. We respond to what works and our hope is that we will be able to do that on a more routine basis," he said.

He said technical assistance would be needed in order to get other countries in the region, up to the standards of Barbados.

"It would be more strategic and cost-effective if we were to have regional nodal centres within the Caribbean where countries don't have to replicate what we already do here in Barbados," he said.

As for keeping those standards high, he said their approach was to provide care in an atmosphere comfortable for the patients while making sure it was never altered in any way.

Adomakoh said, as the problem of HIV/AIDS grew, their ability to address the different cases would detract attention from the older patients.

This was why, he added, prevention was going to be a bigger issue than ever, especially in terms of cost. (CA)