Multi Million Dollar Regional HIV AIDS Plan to Start Soon

Contact: John Emmanuel

Thursday, October 05, 2000 - St. Lucia is to begin implementing the local components of a regional, $US260 million dollar plan to tackle the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Caribbean. National AIDS Programme Managers approved the plan at a recent meeting in Barbados with several international agencies like the World Bank pledging financial support.

St. Lucia’s Director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Programme, Egbert Andrew, is of the view however, that Caribbean countries must put their houses in order to begin implementing the plan. According to Mr. Andrew, local AIDS programmes throughout the region are in need of re-focusing and strengthening.

"Essentially we’ve been focusing on preventative strategies. We realize that although 75% of persons within our community know everything there is to be known about HIV, however the reality on the ground is that only about 35% of persons do the things that will protect them against the disease. So there is need for work in that area. We need to move away from the preventive aspects a little bit and look at a more expanded approach to solving the HIV/AIDS problem. We need instead to be looking at support for persons with HIV/AIDS and that’s a real sore point in our specific area. Persons who have come down with the disease are still facing a lot of discrimination and we need to get rid of that image if persons are to come out and lend support to curbing the disease," Andrew said.

The expanded response will also include efforts at reducing the level of poverty within regional states, increased educational opportunities for young persons and closer collaboration with the private sector, in order to minimize the socio-economic impact of the disease.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Search for 2000 Press Releases ] [Site Help]

© 2001 Government Information Service. All rights reserved.

Read our privacy guidelines.