I want to warmly welcome you to Guyana and to the 13th PANCAP Meeting. Not long from now, PANCAP will observe its 10th anniversary. As we ensconce ourselves within the cusp of this milestone, we must realize there is merely just one more year to go.
The question at this 13th Meeting of the RCM of PANCAP is, will we simply observe our survival as an organization or would we have reasons to celebrate our 10th anniversary when it soon comes up?
As we deliberate during this 13th meeting, we recognize PANCAP has grown into a mature Regional Organization and a recognized Global Player in the fight against HIV. There is reason for us to feel National and Regional pride.
In 2001, as PANCAP was born, the HIV situation in the Caribbean was dire. The clouds were ominous and the smell of death had begun to intermingle with the happy Caribbean spirit. No one can doubt HIV represented a frightening challenge then. Each time we dare looked at the statistics we saw an ever increasing incidence of HIV in the Region as a whole and in each of our countries. AIDS had become the leading cause of death in young people in most countries of the Region. People living with AIDS had come to see HIV infection as a death sentence. Even as the HIV/AIDS situation deteriorated in many countries, stigma and discrimination together as a twin evil wrapped themselves around us and wounded us within a cocoon of fear, bewilderment and the possibility of developmental regression.
People living with HIV and AIDS needed access to anti-retroviral medications, but resources were scarce and not enough to procure the expensive medicines. Prevention programs were stymied by the lack of resources. In the face of increasing demand for human resources and for financial investment in health as a whole, we were faced with the need for immediate and unprecedented investment in the fight against HIV.
While some of our countries had started to make significant new investments in health because of HIV and AIDS, none of our countries were in a position to single-handedly take on this invisible but conspicuous and deadly enemy.
In the rich tradition of Caribbean innovativeness and in the necessity of regional solidarity, PANCAP was given life. In the deadly throes of HIV/AIDS, PANCAP was born. Uncertain in its conception, PANCAP has emerged as a beacon for Regional confidence that HIV and its destructive pathway are not inevitable.
On the cusp of our 10th anniversary, the dire HIV situation of 2001, the almost hopeless state that AIDS represented in 2001, has changed. There is definite sign of at least a slowing down of the epidemic. Most countries, including Guyana and Haiti, have shown definite signs of reversals in the upward trajectory of the epidemic.
Prevention programs are robust and behavior adjustment is evident. People living with HIV and AIDS have access to life-preserving medicines. Laboratory support is available. We are tackling stigma and discrimination. People are living longer.
There are significantly more trained persons for our prevention and treatment and care programs. Financial investment in the fight against HIV has never before been matched in health.
With more than $US60M mobilized since its inception, PANCAP has played an indispensable role in the gains made in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
I believe, therefore, that as we engaged in our deliberations at this 13th Meeting and as we prepare for the 10th anniversary of PANCAP in 2010, we are reasonably certain the 10th anniversary of PANCAP will be one of celebration, cautious celebration. I believe we would have earned the right to celebrate.
By no means, however, would we have gained victory. Not yet. The road to victory has been approached because of the robust assault we have waged against HIV. But we have a long way to travel yet before we can declare victory against HIV and AIDS. And, indeed, there are formidable threats still before us, threats that have high potential to reverse all the gains we have made.
We have been innovative and aggressive in implementing prevention strategies. But we have not yet reached all citizens. There is a high level of awareness in all of our societies. Yet we cannot ignore the fact that pockets of ignorance still persist. These pockets represent huge potential for the continued transmission of HIV in each of our countries.
Too many of our sisters and brothers are unaware of their HIV status. Some of our countries have established National Days of testing and PANCAP in collaboration with Scotia Bank has declared a Caribbean Day of Testing in June. In Guyana, we started National Testing Day with a modest goal of 1,000 persons. Last year, the third year for the program saw a goal of 10,000 persons and this November, our goal is 20,000. We have to do a better job in the Caribbean to promote the “KNOW YOUR STATUS” campaign. Not knowing your HIV status is establishing the foundation for the persistence of HIV in our societies.
In this respect I continue to bemoan the poor leadership being shown by Members of Parliaments in our Region. We, politicians, must lead the public response to KNOW YOUR HIV Status. We must do so now.
PANCAP must play a leading role in catalyzing a movement of political, business, religious, sports and entertainment leaders to publicly participate in the KNOW YOUR HIV Status campaign. The Champions of Change, the many we have recognized over the years must lead the KNOW YOUR Status initiative. We need the Usain Bolts, the Chris Gayle, the Shivnarive Chanderpal, etc. to be aggressive proponents of KNOW YOUR STATUS.
Here I must also confess that the Caribbean has been slow in reversing some barriers that were established towards greater access to HIV testing. Rapid testing algorithms, initially rejected in many countries, are strategy options to increase accessibility towards HIV diagnosis. It irritates me that we are still hesitant in many jurisdictions to implement rapid testing algorithms as a means of improving testing capacities in our countries.
We have made impressive gains in the prevention of transmission to children through their mothers. I want to appeal today, the use of HAART instead of single dose nevirapine must be universal in our region and PANCAP must make this a priority. In addition it is time we stop stigmatizing and discriminating against our women. We must refer to this vertical mode of transmission as the Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission. This must start today. Our mothers could never and should never be seen as vectors.
It still is beyond my understanding why we are so insistent on the opt-in strategy for HIV testing. It is time the opt-out strategy we have used so effectively for many diseases become the preferred testing option for HIV too. Let us discontinue our own stigmatization of HIV. Let us fight HIV, not stigmatize people living with HIV.
We have not done a good job of giving recognition to the role of alcohol use in the spread of HIV in our countries. Alcohol has been an under-estimated driver of the HIV epidemic in many of our countries. The time has come for concerted action to address the role of alcohol in the transmission of HIV and in the creation of vulnerability of our people.
I will again place myself in harm’s way. But I need not be timid. I am the Minister of Health and I must be driven by public health reality, not by moral judgment. We live in a world where personal freedom must be acknowledged within the realm of reasonableness and within our legislative dicta. In this regards, sex between consenting adults, even if it is adults of the same gender, in private, falls into the category of personal freedom. I believe our laws are in contradiction of this expression of personal freedom.
I recognize the difficulties that government face because we must take into consideration the views of our citizens before we make adjustment to our traditional laws. PANCAP must play a role in the regional conversation to address the anomaly. There has been a silence because we are shy of offending important stakeholders. But such silence has not helped us in our fight against HIV. Far from it, such silence has been deadly and has shattered too many dreams. Such silence is simply reprehensible.
As I reflect on the continued challenges, I cannot ignore the fact that domestic sexual violence is still a Caribbean issue. Much more discussions are taking place. Some actions are being taken. Yet the ugliness and shame of domestic sexual violence is still an urgent issue waiting our collective action.
Our challenges at this time are indeed many. One of our gains was the unprecedented mobilization of resources to fight against HIV/AIDS. This is now threatened as the financial and economic situation globally are providing the basis for excuses to reduce the financial investment being made to fight against HIV and AIDS. The excuses are being made in different forms and take many fronts.
Here in the Caribbean we have properly indentified the non-communicable chronic diseases as an urgent developmental issue. This is true in many parts of the world. We must invest more in the fight against the non-communicable chronic diseases. But this must not serve as the reason to reduce our investment in the fight against HIV and AIDS. I do not for a moment doubt we can make better use of the investment in HIV and AIDS, but as we review the challenges we still confront, there is need for even more investment, even after we have remove all the waste in HIV spending. There is a need for more investment in the fight against HIV, not the shifting of resources at this time. More money must be invested in other areas of health too.
From the depressing times of 2001, when the fight against HIV appear too daunting and threatened to overwhelm us, we have come a long way. We now meet at this 13th meeting in an atmosphere of optimism and a confidence we can win the fight against HIV. I have merely attempted to remind us all we have many struggles yet to overcome. The challenges are still daunting. The barriers are still sturdy.
But we have demonstrated we have the wisdom. We have the knowledge and the capacity to successfully wage a battle against HIV. PANCAP must continue to strengthen its role in this fight. PANCAP must be not only a beacon of hope in the fight against HIV, but must also be a ship riding the turbulent waters of HIV to reach shore safely. We the families of PANCAP are united in one ambitious goal: stop HIV, stop it in its track. We took a leap in 2001. It was a giant leap. It had to be a giant leap. That leap placed us on track to win the fight against HIV. Almost ten years into the life of PANCAP, we have begun to hope again. Because we in the Caribbean took a stance, because we were innovative, because we were bold enough to take the PANCAP leap, we now know we can escape a permanent reservoir of shame. We can again see our lives the way of the great philosopher, one we all know so well:
I see tress of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world!
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The brightness of day, the darkness of night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
PANCAP was our way to imagine it, imagine it if you will.
I wish you a successful 13th meeting. God bless.
