The National AIDS Commit-tee (NAC) says that everyone has leadership tasks in the fight against HIV/AIDS and has expressed concern about the scarcity of reliable information publicly available on all aspects of the epidemic in Guyana.
The committee is also calling for a “more democratic understanding of the concept of leadership.” World AIDS day is being commemorated today and is an opportunity to reflect on those who live with and have died from the disease.
In a press release, NAC said leadership requires everyone to assume leadership roles which in turn assumes complete and transparent access to all the necessary information.
A priority in the area of HIV/AIDS leadership in Guyana must be creating an enabling environment for persons living with HIV/AIDS to assume leadership roles, the NAC said adding that everyone has leadership tasks in the fight against the scourge beginning with taking a lead in their own lives and always protecting their health.
The statement said that leadership at national and international government levels is primarily a task of ensuring the priority of HIV is sustained and resources not diverted to competing needs. “Leadership does not require the government to be necessarily the major implementer of all HIV responses,” the release added.
According to NAC, to take initiatives without waiting to be told is perhaps the most fundamental trait of leadership, and in Guyana lack of access to information is a major factor working against such initiatives. “Given the virtual industry of HIV/AIDS activities generated by international, regional and local organizations in Guyana and the large amounts of funds channelled into these activities, the scarcity of reliable information publicly available on all aspects of the epidemic in Guyana is disturbing,” the NAC declared.
The committee also noted that the stigma associated with the virus remains as “virulent” as the virus and asked how in such circumstances persons living with HIV/AIDS can assume leadership roles. Leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Guyana, whether religious, political, medical or social, has consistently failed to address this problem, the NAC asserted, adding that combating the virus has always been in the hands of uninfected people. At the same time, the release stated, the success of the NAC-sponsored survey on stigma and discrimination carried out extensively by People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in May demolished arguments that the PLHA capacity for involvement is not available.
The NAC noted that if the goals of universal access, not only to testing but also to treatment and care are to be achieved by 2010, national strategies will need to mobilize a wide range of energies and resources, primarily human, in more open, transparent and creative ways than are available at the present time.
