An active search campaign is yielding results. Six HIV cases were detected among the 162 people who voluntarily underwent screening at the Quai Orange in Mahajanga on August 20. Two individuals already known to be living with HIV, but who had been lost to follow-up by care services, were also located during this event.
At the Mahajanga International Port, 131 people also underwent HIV screening. No new cases were confirmed there at the time of the campaign’s assessment.
The operation combines HIV screening and Mpox vaccination at several entry points in the city. It comes as a campaign to locate people living with HIV who have interrupted their treatment has been underway in Mahajanga since August 10. Scheduled until September 1, this initiative mobilizes teams from the General Directorate of Preventive Medicine, the Directorate for the Fight against Communicable Diseases, the National Program for the Fight against STIs and HIV (PNLIS), and Population Services International (PSI).
The goal is to facilitate the return to the care circuit for those who have interrupted their treatment and to enable them to resume their antiretroviral therapy and medical follow-up.
“There are people living with HIV whom we can no longer find in the community and who must be brought back into the care circuit,” explains a PNLIS official. He emphasizes the importance of ensuring the continuity of treatment and medical follow-up, without specifying the number of people currently being sought.
The two previously known cases found at Quai Orange illustrate this issue. They will be redirected to care services with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Madagascar and Comoros.
The HIV screening and Mpox vaccination campaign continues until August 24 at the Philibert Tsiranana International Airport and the Aranta bus station. It is financially supported by the Pandemic Fund and implemented with the participation of IOM Madagascar, the Ministry of Public Health through the DVSSER, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Maritime and River Port Agency (APMF).
Captured & Published at: 2026-08-23 08:38:40 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://2424.mg/sante-publique-six-cas-de-vih-detectes-lors-dune-campagne-de-depistage-effectuee-sur-162-personnes-a-mahajanga/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sante-publique-six-cas-de-vih-detectes-lors-dune-campagne-de-depistage-effectuee-sur-162-personnes-a-mahajanga