Sunday 12th February 2006
28,000 AIDS victims in country
SOME 28,000 HIV/AIDS victims are living in Trinidad and Tobago, the result of which “has created a veil of silence surrounding this epidemic built on fear, shame, rejection and discrimination.” This was according to Patricia Belmar, Deputy Technical Director of the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee, at the Youth Forum Prize Distribution Ceremony of the Voice of One — Overcomers’ Club, at the Transformation Centre, Railway Road, Dow Village, California, on Friday, who added, “there is no cure for HIV/AIDS but there is hope.”
She told the gathering that the Prime Minister’s Office collaborated with the Club and sponsored the Verbal and Visual Expression Youth Forum and the “country has come a long way in addressing HIV and we are now beginning to see some positive signs of our prevention and advocacy efforts and treatment, care and support initiatives.” Statistics show that from 1996 to 2004 there has been a 50 percent decrease in reported deaths due to AIDS; from 2001 to 2004 , there was a 44 percent decrease in reported AIDS cases; and from 2003 to 2004, there was a 16 percent decrease in reported new HIV cases.
Belmar said that “these reports should not result in a laissez faire attitude and lead us into a false sense of security that concerted action is no longer needed because approximately 40 percent of new infections occur in females, and females outnumber males in the total of new infections within the age group 15-24.”
“It is a clear reality that our young people find themselves directly in the path of the epidemic and effective interventions such as the Verbal and Visual Expression Youth Forum are essential to us overcoming it,” Belmar added.
Tags: Health Policy Caribbean Development Public Policy Social Policy
28,000 AIDS victims in country
SOME 28,000 HIV/AIDS victims are living in Trinidad and Tobago, the result of which “has created a veil of silence surrounding this epidemic built on fear, shame, rejection and discrimination.” This was according to Patricia Belmar, Deputy Technical Director of the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee, at the Youth Forum Prize Distribution Ceremony of the Voice of One — Overcomers’ Club, at the Transformation Centre, Railway Road, Dow Village, California, on Friday, who added, “there is no cure for HIV/AIDS but there is hope.”
She told the gathering that the Prime Minister’s Office collaborated with the Club and sponsored the Verbal and Visual Expression Youth Forum and the “country has come a long way in addressing HIV and we are now beginning to see some positive signs of our prevention and advocacy efforts and treatment, care and support initiatives.” Statistics show that from 1996 to 2004 there has been a 50 percent decrease in reported deaths due to AIDS; from 2001 to 2004 , there was a 44 percent decrease in reported AIDS cases; and from 2003 to 2004, there was a 16 percent decrease in reported new HIV cases.
Belmar said that “these reports should not result in a laissez faire attitude and lead us into a false sense of security that concerted action is no longer needed because approximately 40 percent of new infections occur in females, and females outnumber males in the total of new infections within the age group 15-24.”
“It is a clear reality that our young people find themselves directly in the path of the epidemic and effective interventions such as the Verbal and Visual Expression Youth Forum are essential to us overcoming it,” Belmar added.
Daily News Limited
Tags: Health Policy Caribbean Development Public Policy Social Policy
