Work Continues On National HIV/AIDS Action Plan For St. Lucia

Contact: John Emmanuel

Thursday, August 23, 2001 – The Ministry of Health is working feverishly on fine-tuning St. Lucia’s National HIV/AIDS Action Plan. Officials say the comprehensive plan will spell out several initiatives for curbing the spread of the deadly disease, as well as assessing its social and economic impact. 

The Saint Lucia National HIV/AIDS Action Plan falls under the second work programme of the European Commission and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The US $1.6 million regional project which runs from July to December 31 2001, involves institutions like the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), the Caribbean Health Research Council and the University of the West Indies. 

The project includes a review of the development of medical, nursing and social science curricula at UWI, the mother to child transmission experience in relation to HIV/AIDS, and four in-country capacity building workshops.  It  is being implemented under the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS launched earlier this year in Barbados. The start-up of this regional initiative is expected to pave the way for further financial support from agencies such as the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

When completed in 2004, the project is expected to yield several benefits including a pool of skilled personnel  able to contribute to effective policy development, planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes in the Caribbean.

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