The Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) will this week be officially designated an “International Best Practice” by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) during a Press Launch of the publication: Common Goals, Shared Responses: A Case Study on the Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP). The publication, produced jointly by the UNAIDS and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariats, will be launched at the Half Moon Hotel, Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 13 December 2004 at 5.00 p.m.
PANCAP is the umbrella mechanism, which brings together key partners to accelerate the response against the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. It holds the distinction of being one of the first multi-sectoral, multi-level regional AIDS partnerships in the world.
In its response to AIDS in its three years of existence, the achievements of PANCAP include: political mobilization at the highest levels, significant new international resource mobilization, global visibility for the Region in putting the issue on the international agenda and an expanded and strengthened response to AIDS with the inclusion of more than 70 institutions in its membership.
The Caribbean ranks second (after sub-Saharan Africa) in terms of the region most seriously affected by AIDS. According to UNAIDS estimates, 440,000 people are living with HIV in the Caribbean, and AIDS has become the leading cause of death among adults aged 15-44. The rate of infection among women is also rising steadily, hence this year's World AIDS Day focus on women and girls.
As in other regions of the world, the epidemic is more than a health issue: it is an unprecedented threat to the social and economic development of the Caribbean. As a result of PANCAP'S work in raising awareness of the issues including those prevention, access to care and treatment and the elimination of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, the Caribbean is another step closer to mitigating the social and economic impact of AIDS on the Region, a joint CARICOM/UNAIDS release quoted Dr. Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
The launch, which will take place in the Montego Room of the hotel, will be chaired by Sir George Alleyne, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean region and will include presentations from the Hon. Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados; Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Dr. Peter Piot; and Dr. Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat.
Remarks by the Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Ms. Yolanda Simon, Coordinator, Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+) will be shown by video.
The publication can be accessed on the UNAIDS website: www.unaids.org.
For more information, please contact:
Volderine Hackett,
CARICOM Secretariat
Tel: (592) 223 5028; 223 9007;
Alicia Sands,
PANCAP
Tel: (592) 223-5028;
or
Dominique de Santis,
UNAIDS, Geneva,
Tel: (+41 22) 791 4509
or, Annemarie Hou,
UNAIDS,
Geneva,
Tel. (+41 22) 791 4577.
