Productions: Panoscope
Panoscope . Media Briefings .
Island Beat . Our Own Voice . Le P'tit Nouvelliste
Order Publications
Panoscope Articles Index
Antilles’ reliance on PANCAP pays off
By Marvin Hokstam
A decision by the Netherlands Antilles to rely on CARICOM’s Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), may well have yielded desired results at the recently concluded UN High level meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York.
“PANCAP got support from other developing countries and the outcome was reflected in the final declaration that came out of this High Level Meeting. Not only did the developed countries commit to greater contribution to supporting the fight against HIV/AIDS, it was also agreed that eligibility for awards of grants would be reconsidered,” CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Edward Greene said.
Netherlands Antilles HIV/AIDS Coordinator Sherlyne Eisden was especially pleased with the latter outcome.
“Finally the international community is beginning to realize that the Netherlands Antilles are in a bigger bind than it seems. Our constitutional reality excludes us from access to funding from international donor agencies, while we don’t get support from Holland. We have been fighting this battle against AIDS by ourselves all this time, but that can’t go on. Finally through CARICOM –even though we are not members- we are being heard,” said Eisden.
While some 1,500 AIDS activists from five continents protested outside in the streets in a bid to pressure governments to provide greater leadership, tense negotiations took place inside UN headquarters during the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) May 31 to June 2, 2006. Attended by representatives of more than 140 UN Member States, the meeting featured several presentations. A new UNAIDS report showed that while the epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. However AIDS remains an exceptional threat. An estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Approximately 4.1 million people became newly infected with HIV, while approximately 2.8 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005. While the epidemic’s toll remains massive, experts find reasons for optimism.
At the end of the meeting delegates reaffirmed previous goals and called for ambitious national targets as the world moves toward universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. In the final declaration, there were calls for strengthened efforts to combat stigma and social exclusion connected with the epidemic, endorsing full rights for people living with and vulnerable to HIV, to education, inheritance, employment, health care, social and health services, legal protection and HIV information, prevention, support, and treatment.
CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Greene said the most outstanding outcome was the reaffirmation that the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) does not prevent countries from protecting public health through the production of generic drugs.
“That means that antiretroviral drugs have been removed from the TRIPS agreement.
This is another advance for the developing countries and countries like the Caribbean. We have attained easier access to cheaper antiretrovirals,” said Greene. To him the UN meeting paved the way for greater south/south cooperation, as developing countries were previously not permitted to approach deals that would benefit them at will. “Now antiretroviral drugs have become special cases. Developing countries can shop in India and any other countries that produce these drugs,” he said.
Greene was also pleased that G8 countries committed themselves to contributing a percentage of their GDP to AIDS related funds.
“Actually 0.7 per cent is the target for 2015, but they are hoping to reach 0.5 by 2010,” the Assistant SG said.
He said it bode well for HIV/AIDS efforts in the Caribbean. “Any support by the G8 countries would help the Caribbean. We’re the region with second highest incidence of HIV/AIDS,” he said.
The CARICOM official hinted that the UN declaration committed to special attention to prevention.
“Prevention is a critical aspect in the spread of aids. Previously we neglected to put funds into that, but how do you prevent spread when your children, men who have sex with men, people in prison do not understand the need for preventive strategies. You have to invest in prevention or else the disease will continue to spread,” he said. “At this conference strategies were expressed and commitments were made by international donors to put more funds into that aspect. That too should benefit the Caribbean greatly,” said Greene.
He said however that PANCAP approached the meeting as a formality. “Before we went to the meeting we had already outlined our own position with a roadmap on how we would achieve universal access in the Caribbean. Regardless of the political UN declaration, we had already intended to go ahead with the implementation of our own roadmap,” he outlined. The roadmap included a political framework, and provisions were made on how to develop human capacity and to strengthen the delivery of health systems and secure financing against AIDS. “We had already dealt with those issues in a regional setting. The political declaration only helped us to deal with them from a global standpoint,” said Greene. “We had committed that whatever the result at UNGASS, we would go ahead with our regional efforts.”
He said the St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas –who chairs PANCAP- made the presentations during the UN meeting. Besides outlining the regional framework that commits the Caribbean to the goal of universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support for every man, woman and child by 2010, Douglas also pleaded the case of the Dutch and British Overseas Territories and Countries in the Caribbean.
“This was a UN meeting and only members of UN were recognized. Therefore, PANCAP spoke for all member states, including the Netherlands Antilles. So even though the Antilles were not present, they will benefit from the political delegation,” said Greene.
Persistence rewarded
Dr. Van Osch, who spoke for the St. Maarten AIDS Foundation, but is also active on other local AIDS fora was happy that finally “years of hard work and lobbying by different persons in our communities” is paying off.
“We have made important steps forward. It’s extremely important that PANCAP has recognized the need to include and assist the Overseas Countries and Territories, (including the Netherlands Antilles),” he said.
He said that St. Maarten has a responsibility toward all its citizens, as is clearly marked in the new UNGASS declaration.
“However, more than 70 per cent of persons under treatment for HIV/AIDS are not from Netherlands Antilles/Dutch origin. They mostly hail from CARICOM countries and moved here -not for the possibility of HIV/AIDS treatment for clear economical reasons.
But we have welcomed these persons to our shores -be it legal or illegal- so we still owe them a responsibility,” he said.
The HIV/AIDS expert who became personally involved with the disease when it claimed the life of his partner, said it’s time for action.
“Politicians in all islands, including ours, have to admit that the fight against HIV/AIDS is indeed a priority, not only at the level of public health, but at all government sectors. The epidemic has negative effects at all levels of society. Only when our politicians recognize and commit to the fight personally and within their portfolio responsibilities, can we make strides ahead,” he said.
National HIV/AIDS coordinator Eisden said the Netherlands Antilles now has to monitor that the Declaration is executed.
“We are considered a mid-income country because of our relationship with The Netherlands, but should that mean that we shouldn’t have access to funding? Thousands of people from the lower income countries migrated to the Netherlands Antilles and we have been able to give treatment and care, but now it’s time to take this to the larger forums. The funding agencies have to reconsider their criteria. Now that it’s finally on paper, we have to see to it that it’s put in practice.
“And the Netherlands Antilles has to continue participating at regional level. Right now, for HIV/AIDS, CARICOM is our best option. Holland isn’t, because, as a matter of fact,
Holland is too far away. Placing our confidence in PANCAP has proved viable,” said Sherlyne Eisden.
Taking it a step further, HIV/AIDS expert Van Osch stressed that the Declaration is not just something that only politicians have to commit to.
“We all can STOP AIDS and have to personally commit to this fight.”
|
