In June two Prime Ministers, one Deputy Prime Minister, 10 Ministers of Health, including Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, and five First Ladies from the Caribbean will head to the United Nations in New York to speak to the global community about the Caribbean reality of HIV.
Meanwhile, the Director of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team, Dr Ernest Massiah, has said that although five countries in the region have seen dramatic decreases in new HIV infections, approximately 18,000 people become infected each year, a UNAIDS press release said. That is 1,500 new infections each month, or close to 50 people a day in the Caribbean.
He said that, “Too many young men, young women and children become infected with the disease.”
It is against this background that Dr Massiah is underscoring the importance of strong Caribbean participation in the meeting at which decisions will be made about the future of the AIDS response in the next decade.
According to the UNAIDS Caribbean Director, “The high level meeting is an opportunity for Caribbean people to set targets, identify actions and hold themselves and their governments responsible for preventing further spread of HIV and for taking care of those people who are HIV positive.”
Dr Massiah sees next month’s meeting, the release said, as an opportunity for the Caribbean to show the world what it has done, and what it will do about the issue in the region, where approximately 210,000 to 270,000 people are living with HIV.
Among the Caribbean delegation to the June 8-10 high level meeting will be the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas who has lead responsibility within CARICOM for Health and HIV, Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Belize Gaspar Vega. Civil society representatives will also be key participants in the meeting.
According to the release, attendance is expected from the First Ladies of The Bahamas, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Belize and Suriname as well as from the Ministers of Health of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Haiti’s First Lady, Sophia Martelly, is also expected to attend.
