Haiti’s Minister of Health and Chair of the Executive Board Dr Florence Duperval Guillaume has urged members of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) to strengthen and accelerate coordination efforts to that nation as it progresses in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Dr Guillaume made this appeal in her address at the Official Opening of the Nineteenth Meeting of the Executive Board of the Pan Caribbean Partnership (PANCAP) on Wednesday, in Port–au–Prince, Haiti, a press statement from the Caricom Secretariat said.
Alluding to the effects of global developments on the Caribbean’s ability to maintain its response, the minister noted that PANCAP is a collective based on goodwill “[and] despite the international financial crunch, there is a sufficient flow of goodwill and understanding of the need to maintain and accelerate the momentum of the PANCAP response.” She reminded the meeting that “the voices of the community and civil society are heard at the highest level of decision making in the Community.”
Dr Guillaume also drew attention to the progress Haiti has made in curbing the spread of HIV and AIDS. Recent statistics for Haiti indicate from a peak national prevalence of 5 per cent in 1993, it was now at 2.2 per cent. In this context, she said that “[Haiti] should continue to receive the attention of financial and technical assistance partners at all levels. She called on the Board to provide clear information on how the Partnership’s engagement with Haiti could be enhanced and in what areas it could provide critical assistance.”
In her brief welcome remarks, Haiti’s First Lady Sophia Martelly noted that it was the first time that the Partnership as a collective was meeting in Haiti, and that this was symbolic of the Partnership and delegates’ commitment to fighting the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. She called PANCAP to intensify its efforts to eliminate mother to child transmission.
The release said the official opening was chaired by Myrna Bernard, Director and Officer-in-Charge of the Directorate of Human and Social Development at the Caricom Secretariat. Bernard noted that “even as the PANCAP network engaged Haiti in advancing its effort to reduce its prevalence rate and to increase its access to prevention, treatment, care and support, the hosting of this meeting here today, is a signal of Haiti as an equal partner in the regional process to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS.”
Caricom Youth Ambassador Dwayne Gutzmer, in giving the vote of thanks said that though much work has been done “even more work lies ahead to ensure the continued and collective advances in this fight against HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.” Drawing attention to the resilience of the Haitian people, Gutzmer said he was confident that the necessary skills, talents and resources to move the Partnership forward existed.
The meeting also reviewed the financial status of regional projects being implemented by the PANCAP Coordinating Unit and discussed the findings of the recently completed Donor Resource Mapping Project. According to the release, PANCAP’s Executive Board provides policy guidance on the effective management and operation of the Partnership and approves and directs all its projects. PANCAP was established in 2001 and is the regional mechanism responsible for coordinating the Caribbean’s response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
