(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Scaling up care and treatment and reducing stigma and discrimination are critical to successful HIV and AIDS response in this Region. “Tremendous work has been done, but we have just tipped the problem”. This is the view of the Hon. Edmund Estephane, Minister of Health, Saint Lucia.
The minister was speaking at the opening of a three-day HIV Care and Treatment Workshop, convened by the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), to agree on a comprehensive care and treatment package for implementation at the national levels.
CAREC’s Head of Special Programme on Sexually Transmitted Infection Division (SPSTI), Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, said that just about 50 % of persons requiring antiretroviral treatment (ARV) actually do access it, leaving a gap of 50%. Noting that it was quite clear that traditional approaches to care and treatment alone were not adequate to sufficiently identity all those in need of treatment, he said that there was need to come up with a comprehensive package if the region is going to meet our commitments. “Universal Access by 2010 is just around the corner. It is time to take stock of where we are”, he said.
The first module of the publication, Caribbean Guidelines for the Care and Treatment of Persons with HIV Infection was launched during the opening. Professor Brendan Bain, Director of the University of the West Indies, Caribbean HIV and AIDS Regional Training Initiative (UWI) Chart gave a background to the publication. “The Guidelines are aligned to the most recent guidelines by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and are “flexible” enough to accommodate the variations in resources and health care infrastructure that characterises the region”
The brief opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Carl Browne, Director of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit, who in his remarks noted that CARICOM/PANCAP had mobilised approximately US$5m for Care and Treatment. The funds from various financial partners, including the World Bank, were used to support programmes with regional goods. he said
The workshop which ends on 27 June 2007, will identify and agree on concrete actions at the regional and national levels with respect to HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment.
