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Monday, April 2, 2007 – The St. Lucia Planned Parenthood Association
and the Basic Needs Trust Fund are targeting the taxi and mini-bus sectors, in a
quest to better empower St. Lucians with information on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Representatives of all stakeholders sealed an agreement Monday that facilitates
the commencement of the programme, which will see taxi and mini-bus operators
participate in train the trainers workshops and other on-site activities.
Chairman of the Basic Needs Trust Fund and Deputy Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Social Transformation Dr. Augustin Charles said most of the
activities will be conducted on local mini-bus and taxi stands, mainly because
of the nature of the two sectors.
“We did some research in the area and we realised that there is a strong need to
do those types of projects. The mini-bus sector is a very critical sector; they
reach a multitude of persons and we can use them as a platform for dissemination
and for education, whether it be through the drivers themselves or through them
handing out important literature,” he said.
Executive Director of the St. Lucia Planned Parenthood Association Audrey George
said, in this phase of the programme, mostly males are being targeted. She says
males represent 56 percent of all HIV/AIDS reported cases on the island.
Miss George says there is great danger that St. Lucia and other Caribbean
countries could be be losing economic and social gains, if their sexual and
reproductive health concerns, of especially young males, are not addressed
quickly.
“We at Planned Parenthood look at providing sexual reproductive health in a
holistic fashion and it would include having to look at men's sexual
reproductive health in itself. But since HIV/AIDS is part of reproductive
health, it is a key focus with our service providers,” said George.
St. Lucia's HIV prevalence rate is estimated at 0.12 %. This means that one out
of every 1000 persons are infected with the virus. However, these figures are
believed to represent only 26% of the true cases because of the gross under
reporting of new cases.
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