(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) A call for Caribbean governments to provide financial support to PANCAP was made during the official opening of the Twelfth Meeting of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), which opened on Monday, in Saint Lucia.
Minister of Health of Dominica and Chair of PANCAP, the Hon. John Fabien, was firmly convinced that the time was opportune for Caribbean governments to demonstrate tangible financial support through an organized system of contribution.
Speaking on the issue of resource mobilization, the Minister drew attention to the gap which existed between officially-stated financial resources for the implementation of the regional component of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF), pitched at US$60 million and the more realistic estimates of US$100 million.“There is no doubt that the task of mobilizing resources of such proportion in the current financial climate will be formidable, although by no means impossible to achieve,” the minister said. He spoke also to the increasing opportunities for funding from agencies such as the Global Fund and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR II), informing that he intended, on behalf of the Partnership, to lead the pursuit of these emerging opportunities with tenacity.
On the issue of stigma and discrimination the minister stated that dealing with this issue was not only the work of policy makers, but that collective action must be taken. “We will never lick stigma and discrimination in the Caribbean unless religious and faith-based leaders, civil society organizations, legislators and other interest groups join hands with policy makers in presenting a common front to a vexing problem”, the minister stated.
Hon. Karl Hood, Minister of Health, Grenada spoke also of the necessity of mobilizing resources, “…there is no country in the Caribbean that can fight this fight without considerable external assistance. This is not mendicancy; it is the fact of life”. The minister congratulated the PEPFAR for increasing its support to the Region, stating “we are confident that such resources will be applied in the most strategic way for the collective benefit of the Region.”
Resource mobilization is a key issue on the agenda of the two-day meeting, which will among other things, consider a regional project costing approximately 35 million United States dollars to be submitted to the Global Fund. The focus of this regional project is on the most-at-risk population and will also include a component on treatment and care in the OECS.
The RCM is the Executive Board of PANCAP and its responsibilities include providing policy guidance on the effective management and operation of the partnership and approving and directing all PANCAP projects. PANCAP, established in 2001, is the regional mechanism responsible for coordinating the Caribbean’s response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
