Health officials from the United States Government will meet with Health Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Georgetown, Guyana, next week to determine a joint response against the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Region. This round of discussions will follow three days of deliberations by one of the Community's organs, the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), at which forum the battle against the dreaded HIV/AIDS disease across the region will feature prominently among a wide range of critical issues.
The US-Caribbean meeting follows a commitment by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to sponsor a ministerial forum on HIV/AIDS between the Caribbean and the United States.
The two parties meeting for the first time on Saturday, April 20 are expected to set in motion a scaled-up response linked to identified needs of the Caribbean and US communities in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Participating in the deliberations will be the Health Ministers of CARICOM Member States as well as Representatives drawn from the Department of Health and Human Services, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department for State.
Agreement on cooperation arrangements for the transfer of technology and information sharing between Caribbean and US institutions are among the developments likely to evolve from the deliberations.
CARICOM has been engaged in an all-out effort to bridge the gaps and seal the breaches in a wide ranging health reform programme of activities, supporting the all round development of the Community, generally, and specifically aimed at shoring-up moves towards the creation and sustainability for the operation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The US-Caribbean deliberations on HIV/AIDS will also seek to improve the monitoring of patients as well as education about the disease. The two sides are expected to examine US assistance in treatment and care involving anti-retroviral medicines and the establishment of a Regional Resource Training Centre. This is to form part of a series of 'Best Practices' projects, which will be tabled at the forum.
Other agenda items will address the coordination of donor contributions and capacity to develop proposals to access resources.
USAID estimates that about 1.4 million people in the Caribbean have HIV/AIDS. According to CARICOM estimates, nine of the 12 countries with the highest infection rates of HIV/AIDS in the Americas are in the Caribbean Basin. HIV/AIDS has become a major cause of death among the 15-44 age group in several Caribbean countries.
The University of the West Indies (UWI) estimated that to effectively address the HIV/AIDS problem, the Region needs US$3.4 billion, and the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS says that “without decisive action,” the epidemic and its effects will cause untold harm in the Region for decades ahead.
