Regional religious leaders meet to examine role in reducing HIV

By Stabroek News On In Guyana News |
Some of the religious leaders with Director of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit Dereck Springer (left, standing), facilitators and UNAIDS representatives. Stooping at right is Roman Catholic Bishop in Guyana Francis Alleyne.
Some of the religious leaders with Director of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit Dereck Springer (left, standing), facilitators and UNAIDS representatives. Stooping at right is Roman Catholic Bishop in Guyana Francis Alleyne.

A two-day consultative forum that brought together 55 religious leaders from 14 Caribbean countries has recommended that more attention be paid to actions that address the reduction of violence against women and girls and include men and boys and that best practices in the area of treatment and care as it relates to HIV/AIDS be supported.

The leaders, who represented the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i and Voodoo religions, met at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad and Tobago from February 1 – 2 with Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), United Nations and regional officials. The two-day forum was coordinated by the Planning Committee of Religious Leaders and PANCAP and focused on the theme, ‘Religious Leaders’ Contribution to the End of AIDS by 2030’.