Report on HIV in Portugal will only be released for the year
The HIV report in Portugal will not be released as usual on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, because the resources for its update have been allocated to the pandemic, according to health authorities.
The Directorate-General for Health and the National Institute of Health, Dr. Ricardo Jorge, state, in a joint statement, that the report on the evolution of HIV offenses in Portugal, with the update of data for 2020, will be released by the end of April of next year .
“Although there is information collected through clinical notification from other sources, it is known that the scope and representativeness of data that would allow knowing the current dimension and characteristics of the infection, as well as understanding its temporal evolution, are not guaranteed”, they state in the communicated.
The health authorities explain that a covid-19 pandemic in Portugal determined “the need to develop, update and manage multiple monitoring tools of its various dimensions, which resulted in the diversion of available resources, similarly to what happened in others. sectors involved in the response to the pandemic “in Portugal and other countries.
“The urgency of this extraordinary situation overcame the essential updates and maintenance of the HIV computer system (SI.VIDA), which made it impossible to advance the timely information necessary for the preparation of the report”, they maintain.
According to DGS and INSA, “health indicators are worth above all to faithfully reproduce reality”, adding that only in this way is it possible to analyze the effect of strategic options and support decision-making.
“Under current conditions, with data available for the most recent years, there is no such guarantee. Thus, it is understood that this year the information on the progress of HIV in Portugal, either nationally or internationally, will not be divulged”, they emphasize.
The National Program for Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV Infection reiterates its full commitment to ensuring that the report is made available by April 30, 2022, for which it has the commitment of the Ministry of Health’s Shared Services to address the dysfunctions current software program SI.VIDA, essential for the reward, management and dissemination of the reality of the HIV epidemic in Portugal.