(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) is well poised to undertake UNAIDS’ challenge of “Getting to Zero: Zero Discrimination, Zero New Infections and Zero AIDS-related deaths.”
In his World AIDS Day 2011 message, The Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and PANCAP Chair said it was his firm belief that the Caribbean through PANCAP could make the HIV pandemic a “thing of the past.”
Reports show that the Caribbean has made significant progress in a number of areas but there is still much more that has to be done. According to UNAIDS 2010 report, in the past decade there was an overall reduction of AIDS-related deaths by 43 percent, a 14.3 percent decrease in new HIV infections and close to 50 percent of persons needing antiretroviral drugs according the WHO new criteria receiving such treatment.
Dr. Douglas said there was no room for complacency and reiterated a few initiatives that the Partnership must undertake to achieve UNAIDS’ target of “three Zeros.”
He said the Partnership must become a more country focused, goal driven, learning organization that was able to respond flexibly to emerging needs. He noted that for this to happen there must be strong political commitment and engagement at both the national and regional levels.
“The political directorate must know their country epidemics to aid in decision making and priority setting. We must deepen our engagement with Parliamentarians and faith leaders to earn their support on policy development issues and to advance the human rights agenda,” he advised.
Secondly, he added that the governance structures of National AIDS Programmes (NAPs) must be looked at carefully to ensure that they were suited to responding to the local epidemic and that their programmes were cost effective and able to assist their governments in meeting targets and project deliverables.
Dr. Douglas, who is also the current Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) added that the Partnership had to focus its efforts on Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, if the Caribbean wanted to see a significant decrease in the HIV incidence and AIDS-related death rates across the region, while at the same time sustaining the gains made in other countries.
He reiterated that long term commitments were also necessary for sustainable and effective HIV and AIDS programming in the Caribbean. UNAIDS has stated that an analysis of epidemiological and behavioural data shows eliminating the HIV pandemic calls for investment in and programming for some of the most-at-risk populations including men who have sex with men (MSM), male and female sex workers and drug users, who are disproportionately affected by HIV.
“As challenging as combating the HIV and AIDS pandemic remains, we must remain strong and resolute as we continue on our path to HIV elimination and draw courage and motivation to carry on our efforts from the progress that we have been making in the Caribbean. We must never let the challenges that we encounter on a daily basis in this fight bring despair or hopelessness,” said Dr. Douglas
