Caribbean delegations have agreed on a common position for the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting (HLM) on AIDS taking place in New York from June 8-10. They will act as a united force on issues such as priorities, financial sustainability, leadership, accountability, prevention, human rights, and travel restrictions on people living with HIV. The Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) has drafted a brief which all 14 Caribbean countries attending the HLM have endorsed.
These include meeting by 2015, specific targets, such as elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV; elimination of travel restrictions on people living with HIV; an 80 per cent increase in access to care and treatment; a 50 per cent reduction in new infections and acceleration of the human rights agenda.
Agreed positions also relate to key populations to be addressed, education, innovation and new technologies, women, girls and HIV and integrating the HIV and AIDS response with broader health and development agendas.
Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, of St Kitts and Nevis, will chair a panel on "Shared Responsibility - a New Global Compact for HIV". Approximately 70 persons from the Caribbean, including civil society representatives, will join the more than 30 global Heads of State and Governments for the HLM. Trinidad and Tobago will announce its delegation later this week. "The commitment we are seeing from world leaders for this meeting is an extremely positive signal and is coming at a critical time," said Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe.
The Caribbean is calling on traditional donors to meet their previous commitments, while emphasising the region needs to do some introspection on areas where waste can be reduced to achieve greater efficiencies in HIV programmes.