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Moving towards universal access

by Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, Panos Caribbean

Toronto, August 16 2006 (Panos). Access to care and treatment, reducing stigma and discrimination as well as a greater voice for persons living with HIV will be the three main components of a regional advocacy plan for the Caribbean being discussed at the XVI International Aids Conference in Toronto.

“The Caribbean Regional Network of persons living with HIV (CRN+) is advocating that treatment, care and support be put high on the agenda,” Dr Bilali Camara, a representative from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) told journalists at the conference on Tuesday.

“CRN+ plus has joined forces with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against AIDS (PANCAP) to look at constructing a care and treatment plan for the over 300,000 persons in the Caribbean living with HIV,” said Camara.

It is estimated that about 15 to 20 per cent of HIV positive persons in the region are accessing treatment and care. Bearing this in mind, Camara said that the advocacy plan would have to encourage the Caribbean to move away from a centralized system of care for persons living with HIV.

“There’s a need in the Caribbean to decentralize HIV services. If we bring service closer to people, we are making them happy. Centralising and medicalising care and treatment is building an empire of dying people,” he said. About 27,000 people died in the Caribbean from AIDS in 2005.

At the same time, Dr Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary General of CARICOM said that stigma and discrimination were another critical issue that the plan would have to look at.

“To effectively end stigma and discrimination is to remove the impact of stigma and discrimination,” Greene said. He explained that the stigma’s impact impedes an individual’s ability to live a standard life or denies them an essential service.

“This is a framework to empower persons living with HIV. Empowering them to ask questions. We want the same questions to be asked around the region so that our voices are heard more,” said founder of the 10 year old CRN+, Yolanda Simon.

Her organization has argued that advocacy plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life of People Living with HIV (PLHIV). Advocacy has resulted in improved access to treatment and efforts to revisit laws to protect basic human rights of persons infected and affected by HIV in the region.

“The discussion for the advocacy programme started last October when we had our annual general meeting in Antigua. Over the next three years we hope to have the process well underway,” Simon explained. CRN+ represents PLHIV from 21 countries in the region. The press conference on the regional advocacy plan was its first international event at the AIDS conference.