(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)The future strategy of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), must place emphasis on universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
This was the view of more than 150 delegates representing member countries and organisations of PANCAP attending a Caribbean Gathering held as one of the side events at the 16th International HIV/AIDS Conference in Toronto.
The Honourable Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Chairman of the Caribbean Community, who addressed the Gathering, made a plea for the Partnership to collaborate in ensuring that all PLWA had access to ARVs by 2010 and for greater emphasis to be placed on prevention programmes, especially those related to behaviour change among the youth. The Prime Minister referred to the historic occasion four years ago, at the 14th International AIDS Conference, when on behalf of the Caribbean Community- coordinated PANCAP, he signed an agreement with six pharmaceutical companies for the acquisition of ARVs at one tenth of the market price. He also noted the role of the Clinton Foundation, a member of the Partnership, in helping to secure greater access to care and treatment for PLWA in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
The need to strengthen the Partnership and to harmonise donor resources for an optimal response was raised by the speakers, among them, Dr Carol Jacobs, Chair of the Board of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), Mr. Malcolm Mc Neil, Senior Executive of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Ms Yolanda Simon CEO, Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+).
In a brief interactive session, issues were raised such as the need for Caribbean governments to confront head-on the sensitive issues which hindered an optimal preventive strategy, including legislation relating to commercial sex work and men who have sex with men.
The Caribbean is highly visible at this Conference. PANCAP and a number of its core partners, including CAREC, CRN+, UWI, have collaborated in mounting an exhibition which has attracted a wide cross section of the 20,000 delegates attending the Conference. PANCAP will be present a satellite panel on the theme Delivering Universal Access: Perspectives, prospects and challenges in the Pan Caribbean on Thursday, 17 August.
