REGIONAL

Regional governments agree to intensify efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS Published on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version Efforts to secure sustained interventions in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Latin American and the Caribbean have been bolstered with governments agreeing to intensify, widen co-operation and develop greater capacity in tackling the pandemic. This was the word from Jamaica’s Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, at a media briefing in Montego Bay, St James on Saturday June 6, at the conclusion of the 2009 Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) annual Ministerial Review on HIV and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. He said that coming out of the two-day conference, governments in the region have pledged to increase their investments in providing access to health care for persons infected and affected with the dreaded HIV/AIDS virus, which is seen as the greatest challenge to development. The Minister stated that one of the important things to come out of the conference was the consensus that the education sector must now be integrated in the fight against HIV and AIDS. “There is now a greater understanding that the greatest drug is information and that the sector of the country that is responsible for providing that drug in the education sector. I believe that more information means that our citizens will make more informed decisions, and that informed decision-making process would ultimately lead to the prevention of HIV and AIDS,” he argued. He cited the ‘Health and Family Life Education Curriculum’ which many countries in the region have started to implement within their school systems, noting that in Jamaica’s case, almost 35 per cent of schools have adopted the curriculum. “I have seen where we have had significant impact on the behaviour and choices of our young people and we recommend (it),” he stated. Assistant Secretary General of CARICOM Secretariat, Dr Edward Greene, in the meantime, said that in tackling HIV and AIDS in the region, “one of the issues that we have to confront deals with the legislation and the regulations that we have in the Caribbean and Latin America, which are somewhat outdated.” “I think what we have to do now, as a group of educators and health practitioners, is to sit with the Attorneys General and to come up with some policy as to the way forward,” Dr Greene stated. He also pointed to the need to reduce discrimination associated with the disease so that vulnerable groups, including men who have sex with men, can come forward for early testing.   Reads : 226 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *