Two of Guyana’s abstract works on combating HIV/AIDS have been chosen to be showcased at the 2009 implementers meeting in Namibia.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Health oral presentations will be made on the pieces which had been selected through collaborations with the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) and the Pan American Health Organisation. The meeting is being hosted under the theme Optimizing the Response: Partnerships for Sustainability. It is the only meeting of its kind focused on implementation.

Head of NAPS Dr Shanti Singh said this year 16 abstracts were submitted, mostly by first-time authors.

The two pieces selected from Guyana deal with voluntary blood donation and an HIV prevention programme work study students had been engaged in.

In his remarks, Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy reminisced about Guyana’s journey in the fight against the infection. “Our HIV/AIDS fight has come to a point where few of us who were there from the beginning would have imagined,” he said. He also said this reflects the unprecedented number of NGOs involved in the programme as well as work done voluntarily.

Ramsammy urged the participants to use the forum to acquaint themselves with steps their colleagues are taking to improve the overall effectiveness of HIV/AIDS programmes.

The minister also underscored the need for Guyana’s efforts to be documented correctly.

The release said Ramsammy had recommended to then Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson at a PEPFAR gathering in Geneva in 2004 to establish the implementers meeting.

The first meeting was hosted in Ethiopia.