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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Thursday, March 25, 2004 - Ministers with responsibility for health and
social services within the region have signed a major declaration indicating
their commitments to Caribbean youth and the fight against the scourge of
HIV/AIDS. That disclosure came from St. Lucia’s Health and Human Services
Minister, Honourable Damian Greaves.
Minister Greaves, who also holds the portfolio for Family Affairs and Gender
Relations, returned home on Wednesday, March 24th 2004 after heading St. Lucia’s
delegation to the first United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) summit on
HIV/AIDS and children, held in the Caribbean. Mr. Greaves says side-by-side with
the ministerial declaration, the scores of Caribbean youth at the Barbados
summit also drafted their own declaration, which was readily accepted by their
ministerial counterparts.
Minister Greaves says there were many things to be learnt as the session proved
to be a real eye opener. “The children, by participating in this sessions on
HIV/AIDS, and having received the latest information from the experts, came up
with very creative ideas on how we can halt or at least reduce the rapid spread
of HIV among children,” says Mr. Greaves. Statistics indicate that the disease
is most prevalent among the 15-24 age group.
Apart from CARICOM member states, also present at the two-day summit where
officials from the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Bahamas and the Turks and
Caicos islands. Minister Greaves stressed that work must now get underway in
earnest, in living up to the commitments outlined in the two declarations. The
summit will hopefully continue, becoming an annual event with the Turks and
Caicos agreeing to host the next session, he said.
Each country is expected to hold national summits focusing on the many issues
which will feed into the regional meeting next year. The overall goal he says is
to put a halt to the rapid spread of the AIDS pandemic in the Caribbean. The two
students who represented St. Lucia were John Allain from the Soufriere
Comprehensive and Janelle Duncan from the George Charles Secondary School.
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