Caribbean committed to HIV/AIDS care and treatment by 2010
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, New York: Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis and Chair of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), Dr Denzil Douglas, has committed the Caribbean to the goal of universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support for every man, woman and child by 2010.
According to the Prime Minister, "by 2010 [the Caribbean] would have reaped the benefits of a harmonised international partnership" and "every country would have introduced supportive legislation and a policy framework to protect vulnerable populations, such as men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers and prisoners, the disabled and children."
The Prime Minister who has the CARICOM portfolio for Health, including HIV/AIDS Human Resources was speaking on 2 June at the High-level Plenary Meeting on HIV/AIDS, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
He identified international partnerships evidenced by alignment of programmes and funding requirements, sustained international financing, prevention strategies and an increase in human resource capacity as necessary for the achievement of the goal of universal access.
Dr Douglas also called for the eligibility criteria imposed by multilateral and bilateral agencies, which disqualify medium-income countries such as Barbados and The Bahamas from access to front line awards, to be challenged.
Since February 2004, there has been more than a 50 percent increase in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS on treatment in the region. However access to care and treatment remains unequal across the region.
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