Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1313950
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS LAURA CALLEJA POACHERS who claimed to be scientists were apprehended by police in Gozo, Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said. CABS said that criminal pro- ceedings were expected to be filed against 10 men filmed and trapping finches without per- mits and site registrations. Police officers responding to the reports seized nine sets of clap- nets, two cage traps (trabokki) and 42 live birds including Sis- kins, Hawfinches, Chaffinches, Linnets and Greenfinches. Illegal trapping sites were found in Żur- rieq, Ħas-Saptan, Fomm ir-Riħ and Qala, Ta' Ċenċ, Kerċem and Żebbuġ in Gozo. When questioned by the po- lice, 10 trappers "falsely" claimed to be participants of the govern- ment's "dubious finch study", CABS said, and that they even provided fake paperwork. CABS Wildlife Crime Officer Fiona Burrows claimed that the Gozo police did not have access to the Wild Birds Regulations Unit databank of sites where trapping was allowed, when a CABS team reported illegal trap- ping in Ta' Ċenċ and Kerċem last week. "As they had no official data at hand, the police officers re- frained from confiscating the nets and allowed the poachers to continue trapping," Burrows said. Eventually the Wild Bird Reg- ulation Unit confirmed that no permits had been issued for the sites. "We expect the police not only to charge these men for il- legal trapping but also to inspect their aviaries and investigate them for misleading the police by falsifying documents," Bur- rows said. Press Officer Axel Hirschfeld said that its members had ob- served rampant abuse and practically zero proactive en- forcement. "The government is taking everybody for a ride when it claims that this is a scientific project while in fact, their only intention is to appease the trap- pers and help them to provide supplies for their aviaries and il- legal collections," he said. Gozo poachers claimed they were scientists LAURA CALLEJA THE Malta Gay Rights Move- ment has called for increased ac- cess to HIV testing at the genito- urinary (GU) clinic, more focus on preventive treatment and a push to make sure people are on the most effective medication. Marking World AIDS Day, the NGO yesterday said that in or- der to end the HIV epidemic in Malta, the island required a wa- ter-tight strategy focused on this objective. The UN AIDS agency UNAIDS has set an ambitious target where 90% of people with HIV know they are infected, 90% of those are on medication, and 90% of those on medication are unde- tectable and un-transmittable. MGRM said that a push was re- quired in Malta to achieve these targets through increased ac- cess to testing at the GU clinic, improving the medical regimen to make sure patients are on modern and effective treatment, and to ensure that preventative treatment is readily available. "Malta is on the cusp of strengthening all three pillars, yet something is clearly not working as it should be. Even with reduced testing in 2020, Malta saw 78 new diagnoses of which at least one was an AIDS diagnosis. Whilst more testing would consequently mean more diagnoses, the peculiarity of this year is that testing has decreased substantially yet diagnoses re- main high," MGRM said. The NGO highlighted that HIV medication had advanced great- ly to the point where people liv- ing with HIV can have normal life expectancies, making the virus in their body undetectable. "More importantly, it makes the virus un-transmittable. Therefore, people with HIV, who are on effective medica- tion have no health risks, and zero risks of passing on the vi- rus. This scientific advancement could mean the end of the virus," the MGRM said. MGRM said the GU clinic has now been equipped with mod- ern testing facilities, including rapid tests for HIV, Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia, and crucially, excellent healthcare profession- als. "These professionals have however been crippled by COV- ID-19 measures that have all but ground them to a complete halt in 2020. Now that we seem to be approaching the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ap- peal to the authorities to devise and implement a plan to start resuming regular testing," the NGO said. The MGRM said that when it comes to medication, it has been informed that new HIV medica- tion that replaces the current se- verely outdated medication, has arrived in Malta, but it is not yet being distributed and dispensed to patients. The NGO said that while it does not wish to criticise con- sultants and medical profession- als, a plan to focus on HIV need- ed to resume. "Medication that is available needs to be distribut- ed if we want to regain control of this virus." MGRM also said that it was im- portant that preventative treat- ment was readily available es- pecially amongst the population most vulnerable to HIV. It said that treatment exists in the form of PrEP (pre-exposure prophy- laxis), which is a pill that when taken regularly by someone who is not already living with HIV re- duces the risk of transmission by more than 99%. "A prevention strategy that in- cludes PrEP and condoms would mean that everyone is fully armed against all STIs. Just like the two other pillars, we are on the cusp of widespread distribu- tion, yet at a current cost of €57 monthly, if taken daily, the med- ication remains inaccessible to those who are living with limited means," the NGO said. Gay rights lobby calls for increased access to HIV testing