Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 04, 2018 News
With continued efforts being made to sustain the HIV and AIDS gains, it is likely that these health threats will not be epidemics much longer. At least this is the belief of former Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation [PAHO/WHO] Representative to Guyana, Dr. Bernadette Theodore-Gandi.
Dr. Theodore-Gandi is currently the PAHO/WHO Representative to Jamaica, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. She was the keynote speaker at a two-day HIV stakeholders meeting for Caricom states in Jamaica which ended on Friday. The meeting was held by the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS [PANCAP] in collaboration with PAHO.
At the meeting, Dr. Theodore-Gandi revealed that the UNAIDS Global AIDS Monitoring database shows that the Caribbean region has seen a 18 percent reduction in new infections of HIV and 23 percent reduction in the number of AIDS-related deaths this year.
“Once, thought to be too ambitious, the Caribbean region now leads the world in the elimination of Mother-to-Child transmission [EMTCT] of HIV and syphilis,” Dr. Theodore-Gandi stated.
She added, “Currently, seven out of the 11 countries were validated globally for EMTCT, and seven out of the eight countries achieving dual elimination of HIV and syphilis are from the Caribbean. These are inspiring steps toward ending the epidemic.”
The PAHO/WHO Representative noted that winning the fight against AIDS, requires an appreciation of the factors outside of health that also drive the epidemic. She stated that “the Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] Three, ‘good health and well-being’, aims to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. It includes the target which specifically states that by 2030, [we will] end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria…’ But meeting the targets of the other 17 SDGs will also contribute significantly to ending AIDS, as they too provide guidance that supports health and well-being in a holistic way.”
Dr. Theodore-Gandi highlighted too that by ending poverty and hunger [SDGs one and two], the region will be supporting person living with HIV [PLHIV] and their families with the capacity to better manage their lives and adhere to treatment. She emphasized that by supporting high-quality education for all [SDG four], the region will be supporting educational models where boys and girls are empowered with the information necessary to prevent diseases and sexually transmitted infections like HIV. By doing this, she said, there will be improved health and health equity too.
Even as she alluded to SDG five [gender equality], Dr. Theodore-Gandi said “the fight against AIDS will never be won in this region if we fail to address gender inequities, including violence against women and girls.”
She further stated that if the region is to reduce inequalities [SDG 10], there must be an agreement that the principles of Universal Health also include PLHIV, men who have sex with men, women, and girls, sex workers, persons of transgender experience, persons incarcerated, people living with disabilities and all populations most-at-risk. She noted that if the region is to address the underlying factors that leave people vulnerable to HIV infection, no person or group should be left behind.
Dr. Theodore-Gandi underscored that ending AIDS in the Caribbean will require addressing these gaps, as well as the challenges that continue to persist in accessing essential HIV services. While some 73 percent of PLHIV were aware of their HIV status at the end of 2017, only 57 percent were accessing antiretroviral treatment and 40 percent were virally suppressed. Men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender persons, and their sexual partners, represent approximately 70 percent of new cases. In addition, one in every three new cases occurs in young people 15 to 24 years old.
“Let us be responsive to this evidence before us. The data suggests that more concerted and collective efforts are needed in the treatment and viral suppression areas of our HIV cascade,” stated Dr. Theodore-Gandi. She added, “Equitable access, new and innovative approaches, high-impact, evidence-based interventions and appropriate use of technologies, will help contribute to improved efficiency and sustainability in these areas”.
According to the PAHO/WHO Representative, an effective HIV response is also a human rights-based response and to move the region’s HIV response from a phase of plateau to a place of sustained high impact, some countries must accelerate the removal of laws which criminalize PLHIV and key populations.
“I encourage all stakeholders of political influence to recognize their role in creating an enabling policy and legal environment which support an effective response to HIV prevention, care and treatment services for all who need them,” stated Dr. Theodore-Gandi.
She warned that the evidence is conclusive that failing to do this sends PLHIV and key communities into hiding and farther away from the services they need to keep them alive. She moreover encouraged the participants to build on their existing work and the rich experiences of all stakeholders, taking into strong account the voices of PLHIV, key communities and civil society working in the trenches.
“Let us be ‘realistically-strategic, yet ambitious with our ways forward. Let us identify concrete and measurable actions. Let our decisions foster increased access to health and social services. Let them inspire strengthened engagement of PLHIV, key populations, as well as inter-ministerial involvement in the response. Let us also prioritize the strengthening of integrated and sustainable health systems, which are better equipped to respond to HIV and related health issues across our Caribbean countries and territories, including small island states,” stated Dr. Theodore-Gandi.
She highlighted that with a recognition of the SDGs and a respect for human rights and being guided by countries’ data, there is no doubt that the regional meeting would have catered to several steps closer to a rapid expansion of an equitable, effective, innovative and sustainable HIV response toward the 2020 Fast Track Targets. She anticipates that it will serve to move the region closer to ending AIDS by 2030 and for generations to come.
The regional meeting was attended by Ministers of government, parliamentarians, legislators, permanent secretaries, chief medical officers, and national AIDS programme managers from over 16 countries as well as regional and national representatives from civil society, and development partners.
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