Preparing for PLWHA Communities in the Caribbean Region
243 000 new HIV/AIDS cases may spring up by 2009
The Barbados Advocate, Web Posted - Tue Aug 16 2005
It is projected that by the next five years, there will be 243,000 new cases of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.
This is according to a supplement of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre Surveillance Report on the Future of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Caribbean - www.carec.org/pdf/CSR_Supplement1Jun05.pdf
The report anticipated that there would be an increase of the numbers of persons living with the disease by 20.4 per cent from that of 2001, outlining expectations of 672,000 cases by 2009. The report further projected that during the next five years, there would be 334,000 new cases of persons living with AIDS in the Caribbean who would need access to antiretroviral treatment and said within these numbers 187 000 would be males and 147 600 would be females.
Stating that the epidemic had increased from 1980, reaching a prevalence rate of 2.34 per cent among persons between the ages of 15 and 49 in 2000, the report indicated that between 2001 and 2009 this occurrence would fluctuate moderately between 2.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent.
Nevertheless, it noted that if the prevalence was stabilising, the same could not be said with regard to the observed annual number of people living with the disease stating,
It seems that the natural growth of the population and the large number of deaths due to AIDS are hiding the increasing magnitude and the severity of the epidemic in the Caribbean. Speaking on cumulative deaths from the epidemic between 1980 and the end of 2009, it stated that these would total close to one million, double that of the almost half of a million persons who had died between 1980 and 2000 from HIV/AIDS.
However, overall, there will be a declining trend in AIDS deaths by 12 per cent between 2000 and 2009, 56,000 versus 50,000, it showed. It outlined that cumulatively an estimated 397,000 males and 120,000 females had died in 2000 and projected that by 2009 these cumulative figures would be 717,000 and 262,000, respectively.
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=22428
More anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS affected persons in O.E.C.S
Friday, October 21, 2005
CASTRIES, St Lucia: The O.E.C.S Pharmaceutical Procurement Service (PPS) last Thursday advanced the process of acquiring cost effective drugs for persons affected by HIV/AIDS in O.E.C.S Member Countries. The PPS opened tenders from eight companies which accepted the offer to bid for the contract to supply anti-retroviral drugs under the O.E.C.S Global Fund project.
The O.E.C.S Secretariat in January this year signed an agreement with the Global Fund to be Principle Recipient for a grant of 2.8 million US dollars for care, treatment and support to persons affected with HIV/AIDS in O.E.C.S Member States over the next two years. The O.E.C.S PPS are sub-recipient responsible for procurement of anti-retroviral drugs.
Managing Director Mr. Francis Burnett, who opened the tender documents, says the next step in the process is to link with focal points in O.E.C.S Member States, through a conference call, to evaluate the bids and award a contract. He says PPS hopes to be in a position to inform the successful supplier in about three weeks, so that Member States can quickly begin to put in their orders. The bids cover a total of sixteen drugs.
The tenders box was opened on Thursday by Ms. Alison Jean, Central Medical Stores Manager in St. Lucia, and was witnessed by Ms. Belinda Bady the Regional Director of the Clinton Foundation; Mr. Leo Casimir the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the O.E.C.S HIV/AIDS Project Unit (HAPU); and from the PPS, Deborah Ryner-Wade Procurement Officer, Angeline Anius Procurement Assistant, and Brenda Cox Information Systems Assistant.
The O.E.C.S PPS is a unit of the O.E.C.S Secretariat which pools the requirements of Member States for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for tendering, and to purchase these items at reduced costs for public hospitals and health centres.
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/10/21/drugs.shtml
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