The Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) will hold three key governance meetings from September 4-6 in Haiti.
This is the first time that the statutory meetings are being held in Haiti and high on the agenda will be deliberations on PANCAP’s enhanced engagement with this partner, according to a press release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen. In this context, Haiti’s Ministry of Health will provide an overview of the achievements and major challenges and identify critical areas for assistance.
A Special Meeting of the PACC: Partners Coordination Meeting will be held on September 4, while the Nineteenth Meeting of the Executive Board and Fourth Meeting of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism take place on September 5 and 6, respectively.
Current chair of the Executive Board, Haiti’s Minister of Health, Dr. Florence Duperval Guillaume will chair the Executive Board meeting.
Other agenda items include an update on the financial status of regional projects being implemented by the PANCAP Coordinating Unit and the findings of the recently completed Donor Resource Mapping Project.
The Donor Resource Mapping project, funded by the German Government, provides for a searchable electronic database of up-to-date information on resources allocated to the HIV response in the Caribbean, by country and regional institution.
The readily accessible database which is housed on the PANCAP website www.pancap.org is expected to, inter alia, increase harmonisation of regional and national HIV resource allocation efforts.
Coming up for consideration also are issues related to health systems, the integration of HIV into existing health programmes and the role of civil society in this regard.
This agenda item takes the form of a panel discussion and panellists include representatives of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the Trinidad and Tobago Family Planning Association, the Insurance Association of the Caribbean and the Pan Caribbean Business Coalition.
Under the chairmanship of Myrna Bernard, Officer-in- Charge, Directorate of Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat, the meeting slated for September 5 officially commences with a brief ceremony at the Hotel Karibe at 8:30 a.m. Speakers include First Lady of Haiti, Madam Sophia Martelly and the Minister of Health, Dr. Florence Duperval Guillaume.
PANCAP is a regional partnership which was established in February 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Its vision is to substantially reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean through sustainable systems of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
The Executive Board is responsible for providing policy guidance on the effective management and operation of the partnership, the release added.
