Political will, leadership critical to HIV/AIDS fight

Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said that World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for people of the region to reflect, celebrate and take stock of the mixed fortunes that are being experienced by the Caribbean in its response to HIV/AIDS. (File photo)

Basseterre, St Kitts, December 1, 2008 – A regional leader who is also Chairman of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) has insisted that political will and leadership are critical to fighting the diseases and ensuring universal access to HIV and AIDS services in the region.

In a message to mark World AIDS Day today, St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said that while there are plans, such as the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework for 2008-2012, to respond to the epidemic, they must have political backing.

“A strategy is only meaningful when translated into action,” he said. “Political commitment and leadership are required to create the enabling environment that would allow for this action. Political leadership is critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of programmes to achieve universal access and to reverse the spread of this epidemic. The region’s political directorate must remain steadfast in dealing with the controversial issues that HIV generates.”

Dr Douglas said that World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for people of the region to reflect, celebrate and take stock of the mixed fortunes that are being experienced by the Caribbean in its response to HIV/AIDS.

On the hand, he said, there has been a decline in the overall rate of mortality from AIDS in the last year, more people living with AIDS have access to anti-retroviral drugs, there is an increasing awareness of the need to reduce stigma and discrimination, and more professionals are being trained in AIDS related fields.

On the flipside, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among persons aged 15-44 years, the rate of infection is increasing among women and men who have sex with men, and the Caribbean has still the second highest HIV prevalence rate in the world after sub-Saharan Africa.

“We need to find solutions. It is our obligation to do so,” Dr Douglas said.

“So let us use this symbolic day as a catalyst, yet again, for confronting the challenges posed by AIDS by demonstrating the political will and the drastic changes in behaviour required,” he urged.
 
Up to last year, there were about 230,000 people across the Caribbean living with HIV/AIDS.