(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The universality of human rights should guarantee universal access to HIV and AIDS related prevention, treatment, care and support services. As we observe yet another milestone in our response to reverse the spread of the epidemic, what does our score card as a region reveal with respect to meeting our commitments to this particular right?
We all know that our interventions to date have contributed to the overall stabilization of the epidemic, and in this regard there is much to be thankful for. But are we comfortable with the level of stabilization? Are we satisfied with the level of our treatment , care and support programmes? Do they meet our commitment to the Millenium Development Goals, particularly to achieve universal access to essential care by 2010? Are we satisfied as a region, that our obligation and responsibility to create an environment and to provide an infrastructure which cater for the rights of all our people have been met? These are critical questions in need of urgent answers.
No doubt, there have been important gains and advances in the Caribbean’s response, and great strides have been made to meet the needs of the generalized epidemic. There is ample evidence to support this. But the evidence also shows, among other things, that in a comparatively small region, in 2007 an estimated 38 persons died of AIDS each day and 20,000 persons became infected. It shows further that stigma and discrimination remain a barrier to scaling up prevention and treatment programmes; and there continues to be considerable gaps (in some cases) in policies and legislation with respect to the inclusion and protection of the most at risk populations.
We must therefore provide the framework and infrastructure that are necessary to ensure that our interventions reach all populations. We must ensure that our programmes incorporate the relevant messages to reach the widest cross section of the population, both infected and affected in order to achieve an optimal outcome. We must ensure that we move from the theory, as enshrined in our Caribbean Strategic Framework Against HIV and AIDS 2008-2012 which guides the work of PANCAP, to action which acknowledges the integral link between human rights and access to HIV-related services.
The supremacy of the human rights cannot be overemphasized. Access to HIV and AIDS related prevention, care, treatment and support –services is a fundamental aspect of the essential right to health. Let us not give up on our commitment to honour the basic right to care and as a part of this, to provide universal access to HIV and AIDS programmes and services by 2010.
Let us use this occasion of World AIDS Day to renew our commitments and to galvanise our efforts to fill the gaps in our response, acknowledging, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘a right delayed is a right denied’.
