Twelve Caribbean countries will from next month begin benefiting from a United States US$100M fund aimed at the HIV and AIDS fight.

Yesterday’s signing for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), one of many that took place throughout the region in the individual countries,  occurred at the CARICOM Headquarters, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara,  between Caricom Deputy Secretary-General, Ambas-sador Lolita Applewhaite and US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Karen Williams.

The new collaboration, over a five-year period, will give support for the HIV fight in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.

Two regional organisations, the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OCES) will also benefit from the partnership.

Meanwhile, Guyana and Haiti, the only two Caribbean countries to benefit from Phase 1 of PEPFAR, will continue to benefit by way of direct bilateral arrangements along with the Dominican Republic.

Speaking at the signing Williams said the headquarters for the framework on the US side will be based at the US Embassy in Barbados and she described it as a collaborative effort between the US government and CARICOM and the individual countries.

According to Williams, the monies will be channelled in the different countries through existing programmes.

She said the five-year strategy will be based on the HIV strategic plans of each country and funds will be available from the beginning of June for project implementation.

Williams further said that the countries along with the two organisations and the US embassies in the various countries together developed the Caribbean Regional Programme Partnership Framework for programmatic cooperation in five areas: prevention, laboratory strengthening, strategic information, capacity building and sustainability.

And Ambassador Applewhaite described the framework agreement as making another “important milestone in the evolution of PANCAP and is a clear signal of its maturing relationship with the foremost international development partners providing support in the field of HIV and AIDS.”She said the agreement had come at a time when many of the traditional PANCAP development partners have announced shifts in development priorities away from  HIV and AIDS and so this new injection of funds is of vital importance to sustaining the regional response.
Worrying features

Further, the ambassador said while the epidemic  in the Caribbean continues to show definite signs of stabilisation, a number of worrying features still persist.

“For example, AIDS-related illnesses now loom as the fourth leading cause of death among women, and the fifth leading cause of mortality among men,” she said.

Also worryingly, women now account for approximately 50% of all infections while adolescent and young women have infection rates that are significantly higher than males of their own age.

“Although much has been accomplished, therefore, much more remains to be done and this demands the allocation of a level of resources that all Caribbean countries are challenged to provide in the face of contractions in the vital tourism sector, falling demand for exports, reduced foreign investment, tightening of capital and dwindling remittances that are all part of the collateral damage caused by the global economic and financial crises,” the ambassador said.