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Responding to HIV/AIDS
Control of Hereditary Blood Diseases, HIV/AIDS and Sexually
Transmitted Diseases and Non Communicable Diseases in Bahrain
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The main
objective of this proposal is to support the national control
programmes of three important disease entities at the Ministry of
Health, namely; hereditary blood diseases, HIV/AIDS and sexually
transmitted diseases, and non communicable diseases. To achieve this
objective, the project includes activities intended to control the
diseases through building national capacities, health education and
raising public awareness, improving reporting systems, and upgrading
preventive, diagnostic and curative services.
Besides building capacities of national health staff, the
beneficiaries of the project will be the general population who is
expected to experience less rates of the targeted diseases, and the
affected individuals who will receive better medical, counseling and
support services. |
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Control
of Hereditary Blood Diseases: |
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The incidence of hereditary
blood diseases in Bahrain is about 1% among new born children
(2002). Therefore it is estimated that every year 100 affected cases
are newly born. These diseases constitute an economic burden on the
budget of the Ministry of Health. Hence, the Government has done
many efforts to manage the problem and about two decades ago, a
project has started to control these diseases in Bahrain. It
included health education, and screening and counseling of disease
carriers. The project succeeded in decreasing the incidence of
hereditary blood diseases among new born children by 50%, i.e. from
2.1% in 1985 to 1% in 2002. Also premarital counseling was
introduced since 1986 in Salmaniya Medical Complex, and generalized
to all health centres in 1993. The rate of using this service has
been 40% of new marriages. Just recently the Government issued a law
making premarital counseling obligatory starting December 2004 |
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Expected
Results: |
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i. |
Decrease the rate of
hereditary blood diseases among new born children in Bahrain from 1%
to 0.78% by the end of 3 years from the start of implementation of
the project |
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ii. |
Screening and counseling
different Bahraini population sectors for blood related diseases |
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iii. |
Upgrading of the provided
therapy through the development of treatment guidelines, and the
provision of psychological support for patients and their families. |
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iv. |
Establishment of a data-base
for all cases of hereditary blood disease in the country. |
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HIV/AIDS and Sexually
Transmitted Diseases: |
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The reported
numbers of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases
are relatively small. Since the appearance of the
epidemic till the end of 2003, 255 HIV/AIDS cases have
been reported of whom 21 are currently on antiretroviral
therapy. However it has to be taken into consideration
that some risk factors for the further spread of HIV
exist. The most important existing risk factor is
injecting drug use, where 69% of reported HIV/AIDS cases
are attributed to this mode of transmission. Also
generally speaking, awareness of the community, about
HIV/AIDS has been found low as indicated by a survey
carried out by the General Organization for Youth and
Sports on females in the reproductive period in 2000.
These factors, in addition to the lessons learnt from
spread of the HIV epidemic drastically in other areas of
the world that were to the near past of relatively
moderate rates motivate us to apply all possible
measures and interventions to prevent and control
HIV/AIDS in its early stages of spread. |
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Expected
Results: |
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i. |
Conducting a field
survey to reveal the knowledge attitudes and behaviors of the
population concerning different aspects of HIV/AIDS |
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ii. |
Raising awareness and
capacity building of physicians, nurses, health workers,
social workers, religious leaders and media staff of
best practices in dealing with the challenge of this
disease |
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iii. |
Putting together an
HIV/AIDS strategy on a national level, from which an action plan for
future activities is derived. |
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Non
Communicable Diseases in Bahrain: |
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Non communicable
diseases form a threat to health in Bahrain. Statistics
issued in 2002 indicate that cardiovascular diseases are
the leading cause of death (28.6% of total deaths),
followed by cancer (13.7% of total deaths). Also
diabetes mellitus was reported to be highly prevalent,
where studies indicated that 29% of men and 36% of women
in the age group 50 to 59 years are diabetics. The
reasons for increasing rates of these diseases are
related to adoption of risky behaviours as smoking,
increase lipid intake and decreased physical activities.
Studies showed high rates of these risk factors among
Bahraini community. |
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Expected
Results: |
|
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i. |
Decrease the
incidence of non communicable diseases and prevalence of
risk factors in the community through raising awareness
and improvement of services. |
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ii. |
Establishment of a
database for information on the non communicable disease and the
risk factors. |
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iii. |
Implementing a field
survey on risk factors and related health behaviors, followed by a
comprehensive public health education and mass media plan |
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iv. |
Development,
implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive strategic plan for
the prevention and treatment of non communicable diseases on the
national level. |
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Financial Summary: |
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Total Budget: USD 941,765
(Goverment: USD 901,765 + UNDP: USD 40,000)
Delivery up to 2005:
USD
186,000
Delivery up to 2006:
USD
337,000
Delivery up to 2007:
USD
434,463.29
Delivery up to 2008:
USD
31,633 |
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Outputs and
Achievements: |
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| Control
of Hereditary Blood Diseases: |
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2005: |
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i. |
A task force to
follow up on gaps at the Ministry of Health in relation
to blood diseases has been created. |
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ii. |
Guidelines were
prepared by a sub committee within the Ministry of
Health. These enhanced the procedures for conducting
blood sampling and screening for certain blood diseases
such as G6PD. |
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iii. |
A field survey
questionnaire has been completed in coordination with
UNFP, and WHO consultants. |
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iv. |
The first
student screening for blood diseases was conducted. |
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v. |
An international
consultant was recruited to assess the situation of
sickle cell diseases. |
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vi |
A recommendation
report was completed and submitted to the genetic
diseases section. |
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2006 |
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i. |
Two technicians
were sent for blood diseases sampling training |
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ii. |
Field Survey was
conducted and most of the data was enterred. |
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iii. |
Awareness
materials including educational materials were printed
and disseminated |
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iv. |
Survey team was
put together, trained and sent to the field for data
collection. |
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HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases: |
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2005: |
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i. |
Laid the
groundwork for the development of an HIV/AIDS Behavioral
Study through the conduct of knowledge/attitude/behavior
surveys for three high-risk target groups in terms of
HIV infection, namely: youth (ages 16-24); pregnant
women (ages 15-45); and injecting drug users (IDUs). |
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ii. |
Started the
piloting, training of interviewers and generation of 400
questionnaires for the pregnant women survey (ANC). |
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2006: |
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i. |
The generation
of 400 questionnaires for the pregnant women survey
(ANC), has been completed by February 2006. |
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ii. |
The training of
13 interviewers for the IDU survey and piloting were
completed by December 2005 and the 550 questionnaires
have been completed at the end of May 2006. |
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iii. |
Approximately
2,330 students (age 15-24) representing various
socio-economic groups in the country have been
interviewed in private universities and social clubs |
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iv. |
The data
gathered has been tabulated and analyzed with the full
support of the chief technical advisor. The ANC, IDU,
and Youth surveys were completed. |
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v. |
Major media
Campaign on national level was organized utilizing the
results of the three studies. |
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Non
Communicable Diseases in Bahrain: |
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2006: |
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i. |
Two
international consultants were recruited to explore
health promotion and cancer |
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ii. |
A workshop was
conducted to medial staff dealing with cancer |
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iii. |
A Health
Promotion Strategy was drafted y an international
consultant and concerned officers at the Ministry
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iv. |
Non-communicable
house hold survey developed and finalized, and surveyors
trained
Surveyors began collecting data in the fourth quarter of
the year. |
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v. |
European
guidelines on breast cancer introduced |
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Downloads: |
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Project Document