How a Venezuelan Living with HIV Could Change the Way Mexico Deals with Refugees

Daniel (not his real name), is a Venezuelan living with HIV. Mexico gave him refugee status, based on a humanitarian cause. Credit: Sergio Ortiz/ Amnistía InternacionalBy Josefina SalomonMEXICO CITY, Dec 21 2017 (IPS)As Daniel*, a 26-year-old architect, stood before a visibly exhausted doctor in the main public hospital of the once-idyllic beach resort town of Isla Margarita, northern Venezuela, a terrifying premonition took hold of him.“We are not doing tests until further notice. The machine is not working and we don’t have any reagents,” the man in the white coat told him.It was early June 2015. Venezuela was on the verge of a humanitarian crisis that was forcing people to queue for basic food and medical supplies. A couple of days before, Daniel had been diagnosed with HIV during a routine health check.The tests being discussed were essential to establish the type of treatment he needed. But the main hospital in one of the richest states in Venezuela did not have the necessary supplies to carry them out.Josefina Salomon. Credit: Amnistía InternacionalIn much of the world, advances in treatment has meant HIV is now a chronic, manageable condition similar to diabetes, but in Venezuela it can now mean serious illness and risk of death.Daniel’s premonition was brutally simple: no test. No treatment. No future. The lack of everything“Eventually doctors told me I was going to have to wait at least three months to have the tests done and start the treatment. I c...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Headlines Health Human Rights Latin America & the Caribbean LGBTQ Migration & Refugees Regional Categories Source Type: news