-Belize NGO official
While HIV/AIDS treatment is free or provided at a minimal cost in most Caribbean countries, there are critical groups that are still not being reached, according to the president of an international HIV non-governmental organisation, Caleb Orozco.
According to Orozco, who is the president of United Belize Advocacy Movement (UniBAM), substance abusers and the homeless face “unique challenges that limit their access to treatment: discrimination at points of service and the absence of basics like food, transportation and shelter.”
Orozco, who at the time was addressing a media briefing at the Regency Hotel where the Caribbean Treatment Action Group (CTAG) launched its first Annual Treatment Day in Guyana, said the groups, though often stigmatized, interact with the wider population and as a result their access to healthcare affects the health of the society on a whole.
But all is not lost as according to Ian Mc Knight, Programme Manager of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, while people see these groups as hard to reach they are not impossible to reach as there have been small campaigns launched in many Caribbean countries that have been successful in reaching those persons.
He said that it is hoped that other groups can follow suit so as to ensure that these critical groups have access to treatment and other basic needs.
He said his organisation has launched a year-long campaign, focusing mainly on women who are HIV positive and are also hooked on crack and cocaine. It is hoped that policy makers through the advocacy of the organisation will develop strategies that will address this issue.
Moreover, Orozco said, it has been proven that directly observed therapy and street-based outreach programmes in St Lucia, Jamaica and Trinidad that take medication, essential services and information directly to the target groups have improved their health outcomes and their chances of recovery.
Meanwhile, according to Caleb a recent study completed by the Caribbean Drug and Alcohol Research Institute (CDARI) on the behaviours of homeless drug users in three Caribbean countries found that the disease is more prevalent in that group than the general population; they are less likely to take HIV tests or to seek treatment because of service barriers; that 75% of females sampled engage in transactional sex for drugs; and that only 11% of the females in the report indicate that they use condoms consistently.
Caleb said that CTAG strongly believes that effective HIV programming must have at least two distinct but related components – a recognition of the fundamental human rights of these populations and a commitment to respect their dignity. Also there needs to be a commitment to incorporate the needs of the populations into programme planning – both to improve their rates of enrolment in adherence to treatment and to ensure the success and sustainability of the wider prevention, care, treatment and support initiatives.
And giving a background to CTAG, which also launched the treatment day in Belize, Jamaica, Curacao and St Lucia, Rosaura Lopez, Executive Director of Puerto Rico Concra, said it comprises Caribbean treatment access activists who are living with HIV and their supporters from around the region. The organisation has two main strategies: advocate for access to HIV and AIDS-related care and treatment and support for all who need it in the Caribbean. The second is an annual small-grants programme that provides community groups with funds through a peer review process. The group was formed at a meeting in St Lucia held in October 2004, where over 200 participants met to discuss the issues of access to treatment and support in the Caribbean and to elect the first executive of the organisation.
And Regional Coordina-tor of the group, Patricia Figueroa announced that her organisation received 26 applications from around the Caribbean for its grant. She said they approved 14 grants and two of these are grants to support region-wide initiatives.
The others are said to impact on work in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Suriname, Guyana and Dominica. The grants total US$180,000 and will focus on work such as the reduction of HIV stigma and discrimination, capacity building of marginalised groups, HIV treatment literacy, the training of human rights advocates and the production of behaviour change communication materials.
