More than 100 ministers of health, national AIDS programme managers, ambassadors and representatives from non-governmental organisations and civil society will convene in Guadeloupe next month for the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP).
According to a press release, the November 3 opening will see a virtual address by seventh UN Secretary General Kofi Annan via video, while Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of the United States Government activities to combat HIV/AIDS globally, Dr Deborah L Birx will be the key note speaker.
The AGM is being convened under the theme, ‘Positioning the Partnership for Post-2015’,
and the release stated that during November 4 – 5 participants will recognise outstanding contributions, plan for the future, share ideas and collaborate on their shared vision.
This is the first time that the AGM is being held in a French Caribbean territory and provides an opportunity for Guadeloupe to showcase the work that the French Caribbean is doing as a part of the collective effort against HIV.
Among the key contributors to the event are Interreg IV Caraibes, L’Europe S’engage and Centre Hospitalier Pointe-à-Pitre along with German Corporation, with its implementing bodies, GIZ and KfW and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Meanwhile, the Executive Board of PANCAP has just endorsed the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF), 2014-2018. This document will serve as the primary tool to guide the work of all of the partner governmental and nongovernmental organisations of PANCAP for the next four years. An important discussion during the meeting of what this plan means for the partners will ensure that all of PANCAP is united in its mission to see the goals of the framework achieved.
