HEALTH-CARIBBEAN: New Alliance Against AIDS

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Feb 14 2001 (IPS) - Heads of government, business leaders and institutions from the Caribbean pledged Wednesday to reduce the prevalence of AIDS among the young by 25 percent in the year 2005 in that region, the hardest hit by the pandemic, bar Africa.

At a meeting in Bridgetown, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) heads of government announced the creation of a coalition to spearhead the fight against AIDS at a regional level, and to “significantly scale up the response to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.”

The aim of the campaign is for 90 percent of youngsters in the region aged 15 to 24 to have access by 2005 to the information, education and services needed to reduce their vulnerability to the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), which causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that in late 2000, some 390,000 adults and minors were living with HIV in the Caribbean, up from 360,000 in late 1999.

However, UNAIDS calculated that the real number was probably closer to 500,000, given the lack of reliable information from a number of countries.

The Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS, which was born Wednesday in the capital of Barbados, plans to fight the pandemic with an integral approach that includes the participation of all sectors of society.

“An expanded response involving governments, business, and the international community is essential if the spread of the epidemic is to be reversed,” said Dr. Eddie Green, Assistant Director General of CARICOM.

The Partnership also plans to involve HIV and AIDS sufferers, non-governmental organisations, grassroots community organisations and religious and academic institutions in the campaign.

However, “an intensified response requires additional resources,” stressed Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Clearly, the need for resources against HIV and AIDS far outstrips their availability.”

A conservative estimate by the University of West Indies put the cost of a comprehensive response to the epidemic in the Caribbean at 260 million dollars a year – ten times higher than current international spending on HIV/AIDS in the region.

According to UNAIDS, initiatives such as the World Bank’s Adjustable Programme Loan for the Caribbean could help reduce that gap.

Xavier Coll, Director of the Human Development Department of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office of the World Bank, said that institution was “increasing its advocacy efforts, and is highly committed to HIV/AIDS issues both throughout the Caribbean and in other regions of the world.”

The commitment adopted in Bridgetown also set a target of cutting the rate of transmission from HIV-infected mothers to their babies by 50 percent in 2003.

More than seven percent of pregnant women in urban areas of Guyana tested positive for HIV, according to recent data compiled by UNAIDS.

Haiti has been hardest hit in the region. In some parts of that impoverished country, 13 percent of pregnant women anonymously tested were found to be HIV-positive.

In Haiti, around eight percent of adults in urban areas and four percent in rural areas are living with HIV. By late 1999, some 74,000 Haitian children had lost their mothers to AIDS.

In the Bahamas, HIV prevalence among adults stands at four percent, while in the Dominican Republic, one out of forty adults tests HIV-positive. In Trinidad and Tobago, the ratio is one out of 100.

A UNAIDS report observed that heterosexual transmission of HIV in the region was fuelled by a “deadly combination” of early sexual activity and frequent changes of sexual partners among the young.

Half of the men and women surveyed in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said they had become sexually active by the age of 16, while a quarter first had sexual relations before the age of 14.

Another factor contributing to the spread of AIDS in the region is the frequency of sexual relations between young women and significantly older men, the UN agency added.

“Without decisive action, the epidemic and its impact will cause untold harm for decades ahead,” warned Piot. He added, however, that “the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS represents the chance to build a better future.”