(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) More than 120 representatives of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), including one Head of Government and several ministers, will meet for the Partnership’s Eleventh Annual General Meeting on 18 November 2011, in The Bahamas. The venue of the meeting is the British Colonial Hilton, Nassau.
A key highlight of this XIth meeting is the PANCAP Awards ceremony during the Official Opening of the 2011 Caribbean Conference, in the evening of 18 November, at the Atlantis Hotel. This year, the Awards would be conferred on three persons who have made outstanding contributions to the Caribbean’s response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The Juanita Altenberg for Excellence conferred by PANCAP member, the Caribbean Vulnerable Community Coalition (CVC), and the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition Awards will also be presented.
With a focus on Enhancing Country Ownership and Sustainability, this eleventh meeting promises to be a decisive one. Divided into five sessions, the first session highlights areas of progress and challenges in meeting the goals of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS 2008-2012 and includes some specific recommendations.
An overview of the status of the HIV epidemic across the Region and the implications for research, surveillance and priority-setting at country level and future projections to 2015, will be the focus of session two. The PANCAP Coordinating Unit (PCU) and Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC) will lead the discussions, in this regard.
In session three, the Health Economics Unit of the University of the West Indies, in consultation with UNAIDS Regional Support Team will present an overview of the financial issues impacting the regional response. Recommendations for financial sustainability at country and regional levels and key initiatives to improve coordination of donor investment, among other issues, will be the focus of this session.
Session four, Enhancing Country Ownership, will, among other issues, highlight areas of strength, the role and impact of externally funded projects in advancing country programme gaps and sustainability concerns.
There will be three concurrent sessions under the overarching theme of Improving Partner Coordination for the benefit of countries. These sessions focus on improving coordination in key elements of the regional response. These include: interventions with most-at-risk communities; engaging with Parliamentarians and Policymakers to end Stigma and Discrimination; and coordination of country level surveillance.
According to PANCAP Director, Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, the theme of this eleventh meeting Enhancing Country Ownership and Sustainability, is indeed timely. “ … as the gap widens between investment needs and available resources, shared responsibility is critical to the financial and, indeed, the overall sustainability of the Partnership… adding that “working with countries to make HIV programmes more cost effective, efficient and sustainable is a key approach of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit”. The Director anticipates that this forum will provide a menu of recommendations, that will advance the Partnership’s efforts as it continues in its response to reversing the epidemic in the Caribbean.
Under the chairmanship of Head of Strategy and Resourcing, at the PANCAP Coordinating Unit, Dr. Morris Edwards, the meeting begins at 8.30 a.m. with a brief Official Opening at the British Colonial Hilton, Nassau. Speakers include, Hon. Hubert A. Minnis, M.P., Minister of Health, The Bahamas, Hon. Julius C. Timothy, Minister of Health Commonwealth of Dominica, and Dr. Antoine Gabriel Thimothé, Directeur Général, Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population of Haiti.
PANCAP, is a regional Partnership which was established in February 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Its vision is to substantially reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean through sustainable systems of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Its goals are By 2012, to reduce:
• the estimated number of new infections by 25%;
• HIV mortality by 25%
• the social and economic impact of HIV and AIDS on households by 25%
