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Dec 01, 2011 News
There is need to work assiduously for reforms to archaic laws and changing the stance of conservative law makers , said United Nations envoy for HIV/AIDs in the Caribbean, Dr. Edward Greene. His remarks were detailed in a statement to mark the commemoration of World AIDS Day today.
He stressed the need for persons to rethink their view of the epidemic as a moral issue rather than as a public health crisis. “There is need to demonstrate empirically to development partners and national governments that withholding funding and support for life-saving programmes, are inimical to the economic and social wellbeing of countries, regions and the world economy.”
Additionally, he said, there is need to challenge the health care systems that restrict access to those at risk even as he stressed the need to advocate and work to reduce stigma and discrimination and misinformation that continue to fan the flames of the disease.
The Caribbean, Dr. Greene said, is fortunate to have a set of dedicated regional institutions, including the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV (PANCAP), The Caribbean Business Coalition against HIV, the Caribbean Broadcasting Media Corporation for HIV and the Caribbean Network of PLWA together with the support of UNAIDS.
These, together with vibrant national programmes, political will and the recently concluded Caribbean HIV Conference in The Bahamas last November, fully demonstrate the reinforcing sustainability of science, creative leadership and action.
And while this World AIDS Day comes against a backdrop of renewed hope, he said that there is also the reality that gains in the HIV response are threatened by a decline in resources available for HIV prevention and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. “This could be further aggravated by the recently revised resource forecast showing a shortfall in funding available through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund),” he noted. Fundamental to sustainability, he noted, is the need to support the recent call of Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Executive Director, for new financial modalities and sources of funding such as a financial transaction tax to maintain the momentum of the AIDS response for saving lives and getting to zero.
World AIDS Day 2011, which is being observed today, is a significant landmark coming as it does after the most optimistic commitments included in the declaration at the UN High level Meeting on HIV in June 2011, Dr. Greene said.
Among them are the achievements by 2015 of zero mother to child transmission, zero new infections and zero discrimination of people living with AIDS.
And according to Dr. Greeme for the first time in 30 years “we could dream of a world free of AIDS and getting to zero.” This, he said, is due in no small measure to the blending of science and the unity of action.
However, there is growing recognition in the Caribbean, he added that “we have a golden opportunity to be the first region in the World to get to zero just as was done with the elimination of polio and small pox in the 1980s by applying the principles of functional cooperation and shared leadership.
According to Dr. Greene there is no room for complacency even as he pointed out that HIV infections will not be reduced by depending solely on medicines or vaccines. For this reason, he stressed that obstacles must be removed.
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