At the end of 2017, there were 1,643 people in T&T in the 15-29 age group living with HIV. They account for 15 per cent of the total number of young people living with the disease in this country.
By now, almost a year later, in keeping with trends in recent years, there would have been newly reported figures, so there is cause for concern about the rate of infection in one of the more productive segments of the population.
And that isn't all. According to a recent National Surveillance report, while approximately 1,000 of T&T's HIV-positive young people are accessing treatment, some 643 are either undiagnosed or not involved in a treatment programme.
This snapshot of just one age group in this country is an indication of the gravity of the situation where the HIV rate is 1.5 per cent
The Ministry of Health and the Medical Research Foundation have committed to the UNAIDS goal of 90 90 90 by 2020. What this means is that by 2020, 90 per cent of all the people in T&T living with HIV should know their status, 90 per cent who know their status should be getting treatment and 90 per cent of those getting treatment should have the virus suppressed in their bloodstream.
These are not impossible goals. However, to get there requires funding and other kinds of support to ensure the effectiveness of preventative programmes and initiatives for people living with HIV.
Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, an occasion for citizens to reflect on the fact T&T still has a long way to go in the battle against HIV/Aids.
A global cultural treasure
Thanks to the efforts of that country's government, Jamaica's reggae music has been added to the United Nations' list of global cultural treasures, now taking its place among more than 300 traditions that include the horsemanship of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and a Mongolian camel-coaxing ritual.
The designation means that the musical genre is now deemed worthy of protection and promotion. In making the announcement yesterday, UNESCO, the UN's cultural and scientific agency, said reggae is “now played and embraced by a wide cross-section of society, including various genders, ethnic and religious groups.”
This achievement didn't come about by chance. Jamaica applied for inclusion on this list and was among 40 proposals considered alongside such traditions as Bahamian strawcraft, South Korean wrestling, Irish hurling and perfume making in the southern French city of Grasse.
Even as we applaud our Jamaican brothers and sisters, who place a high value on their cultural traditions, their success stands in painful contrast to the situation in T&T, the birthplace of calypso, limbo, and the steelpan, distinctive attributes that we share with the world but fail to recognise as high value.