A huge step was taken in the race to eliminate HIV in Guyana by 2020, when the United Nations (UN) launched a multi-million-dollar joint programme yesterday to assist the local fight – a move the Ministry of Health deemed necessary if the deadly virus is to be eradicated.
The Joint Programme of Support on AIDS (UNJPS) is aligned with the HIVision2020 created by the National AIDS Secretariat (NAPS) in 2013 and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Leslie Cadogan noted that a joint approach is exactly what is needed if HIV is to be eliminated.
“I wish to reiterate that we must always focus and it must be our focus that it is a joint effort,” he said. He added that the epidemic cannot be eliminated without a multi-agency effort. He further called for more persons and agencies to come onboard to tackle the disease.
UNICEF Country Representative Marianne Flach agreed and stated, “It is imperative that we all work together to achieve the results in this and other critical areas if we are to sustain and build on the progress that we have made so far, to improve the health and well-being of children, their families and the nation as a whole.”
UN Resident Coor- dinator Khadija Musa concurred with both assessments and emphasised that community effort is indispensable in the fight against the disease,