MSMNPA.ORG Pride 2005

PULSE: HIV/AIDS CARIBBEAN HORIZON - Preparing for PLWHA Communities in the Caribbean Region for Treatment

Treatment preparedness activities aim to give people on or in need of antiretroviral treatment

At the 2002Barcelona International AIDS conference, the WHO announced its plans to rapidly scale up access the ARV therapy in developing countries, aiming to get 3 million PLWHAs on treatment by the end of 2005. This was followed by the International Treatment Preparedness Summit (ITPS) where PLWHA and treatment advocates met to discuss the issues linked to PLWHAs’ readiness to receive treatment.

A Caribbean regional steering committee was established in early 2004 and its members met and developed plans for the Caribbean AIDS Treatment Summit (CATS) held in St Lucia in October 2004. At this summit, participants discussed treatment preparedness issues and elected a Community Review Panel, who will steer, develop and finalized the regional process for awarding grants under the Collaborative fund. The first round of regional grants is expected to be awarded by May 2005 to Non-governmental Organisations in the Caribbean region.

PLWHA organisations were particularly encouraged to apply as well as organisations representing groups most vulnerable to HIV including drug users, women’s groups, sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Treatment preparedness activities aim to give people on or in need of antiretroviral treatment easy-to understand information about issues such as how HIV works in the body, HIV testing, opportunistic infections, the different treatment types available and how they work, how to take treatment correctly and the support services that are available.

Brazil to Give Caribbean Islands Antiretroviral Drugs in Support of their Fight against HIV/AIDS

The Associated Press was quoted on 25 th May 2005, that the Caribbean Community announced that Brazil has pledged to give antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to patients in nine eastern Caribbean nations. ARVs will be provided for 500 AIDS patients in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The countries are all members of the sub regional Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.

Brazil made the pledge following a meeting earlier this month between Caribbean officials and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and the nation's Health Minister Humberto Costa. Officials were unable to specify when the ARVs would be supplied. However, Brazil and the community are meeting in May to sign an HIV/AIDS technical assistance agreement. In the Caribbean, 2.4 percent of the population, or some 500,000 people, have HIV, a rate surpassed only by sub-Saharan Africa. The Caribbean figure excludes Cuba, where testing and prevention programs have kept rates of infection relatively low.

“This proposal ensures the participation of people living with HIV/AIDS in all aspects of the programme and at levels of decision-making and activity,” said Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Director of the HIV Department at WHO.