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Contact:
Claudia Monlouis
Thursday, December 9, 2004 - The region will, in the coming days play
host to the Sixteenth UN-AIDS Coordinating Board Meeting for the very first
time. An invitation has been extended to all Ministers of Health within the
region, and Saint Lucia’s Minister for Health, Honourable Damien Greaves will be
attending the Jamaica meeting from December 12th to 14th.
The meeting takes place on the heels of the World Health Organisation’s and
UN-AIDS meetings, which recently issued two documents aimed at ensuring
equitable access to treatment for HIV/AIDS victims. The documents highlight
policy statements, detailing key issues effecting women’s access to HIV/AIDS
treatment and care.
“There’s a meeting on the 13th as well, the afternoon prior to the Programme
Coordinating Board Meeting, which will be dealing basically with Gender and AIDS
and Prevention in the Caribbean, and as I said it is the first time that there
will be over 200 persons from around the world attending that meeting. The focus
will be on the two themes of Gender and AIDS, and HIV Prevention,” said
Honourable Greaves
Although 47% of infected people around the world are women, the World Health
Organisation and UN-AIDS have expressed concern that currently no reliable data
is available on the number receiving treatment.
Following the UN-AIDS meeting, Minister Greaves and his Permanent Secretary, Mr.
Fidelis Williams will also attend the Policy Round Table Consultation under the
auspices of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development in Barbados from
the 15th to the 18th of December.
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