US helping to tackle gender based violence to improve global health

May 02, 2015 News

– but insists HIV/AIDS still needs keen attention
The goal of improving global health is not limited to fighting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired

Deputy Chief of Mission, Peter Anthes

Immune Deficiency (HIV/AIDS). This assertion was earlier this week made by Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Peter Anthes.
Anthes who was at the time speaking at the relaunch of the Guyana Business Coalition on Health Awareness (GBCHA) at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown, said that the US Mission to Guyana is committed to improving the lives of all citizens.
And this has materialised in many ways, Anthes noted. These include working with and granting monies to organisations dealing with gender based violence and women’s and children’s issues among other causes.
Anthes in directing specific attention to the issue of gender based violence dubbed it a challenge that not only plagues Guyana but people all over the world. And according to him too, “gender based violence is a human rights violation, abuse, a public health challenge and an obstacle to civic, social, political and economic participation. It is a wedge that divides people and leads to dangerous physical and mental health outcomes.”
Anthes said that gender based violence is one that can also limit access to education and increase medical and legal costs. He underscored that “gender based violence not only threatens the safety, dignity and human rights of millions of individuals of experience, but also the public health, economic stability and security of nations.”
He said that for the period 2014/2015 the US Embassy has granted over US$600,000 in grants to non-governmental organisations in order to enable them to expand their existing grassroots work to prevent such violence and to assist its victims.
GBCHA has expanded its focus from merely HIV/AIDS to general health awareness.
According to GBCHA Executive Director, Suzanne French, the expanded work of the non-profit organisation will continue with the Ministries of Health, Human Services and Social Security as well as Help and Shelter and other organisations to address domestic violence and changing gender roles and norms.
Efforts will also be directed at raising awareness of cancer, diabetes, mental health and other issues, French added, pointing out that the successful strategies used in the HIV prevention programmes will be adapted where applicable. Nevertheless, HIV/AIDS must remain a major focus, Anthes noted.
He said that because of the efforts that the US has plugged into helping to tackle this health challenge “an AIDS free generation is in sight.”
He said that globally, HIV infection rates have declined by 38 per cent over the past decade and AIDS related mortality has decreased by 35 per cent since it peaked in 2005. Turning attention to the Caribbean Region, he said that new infections have declined by 40 per cent from 2005 to 2013 while Guyana’s HIV prevalence has steadily reduced from 2.4 per cent in 2004 to 1.4 per cent in 2013.
But according to him, “despite tremendous progress the HIV/AIDS epidemic is not yet controlled. To get to an AIDS free generation we must deliver the right thing in the right place and at the right time.”
The right thing, Anthes said, means focusing on the highest impacting interventions. He insisted that “when we focus on these interventions and bring them to scale we see tremendous results, when we fail to focus and/or to meet scale, progress is slow or stalls.”
In the continuing quest to attain an AIDS free generation, Anthes said that targeting the “right place” would mean focusing resources on key geographic areas including, at the sub-national level and reaching the most vulnerable populations.
And the “right time” he added, would translate to getting ahead of and ultimately controlling the epidemic. “We can’t afford to continually fight an expanding epidemic; it is not programmatically or financially sustainable,” said Anthes as he asserted that Guyana can position itself to get ahead of the epidemic.
Guyana is one of 13 countries, globally, that are at the tipping point of the epidemic. “When a country begins to put more people on treatment that are newly infected, a crucial tipping point has reached…right now we are in a winning position and this momentum must be maintained,” asserted Anthes.
He recommitted the efforts of the US to fighting this cause.