CARICOM calls for continued financial assistance for HIV

BARCELONA (CMC):

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries yesterday appealed for con-tinued international financial assistance to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In an addressing commemorating the 10th anniversary of the XIV AIDS Conference here, St Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, who has responsibility for health issues within the 15-member CARICOM grouping, said a decade after signing an accord with six pharmaceutical companies in Barcelona, "we can truly and optimistically pronounce the aspirational goal to achieve an AIDS-free generation".

He said the combination of scientific - biomedical and behavioural - research; passionate advocacy of civil society and creative leadership, had also contributed to the achievement.

funding crucial

But he told the conference delegates, which also included the president of the Spanish Parliament and Dr Luiz Loures, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), that while the Caribbean is pleased with its achievement to date, it could only continue the work with the support of the required funding.

"We in the Caribbean Community are engaged with our colleagues in Latin America and indeed with partners in Europe and throughout the world to make the end of AIDS a reality. But we can only do so with a concerted effort to ensure that the HIV programmes are adequately funded.

"We can only do so in this era of scarce resources only if we embark on a judicious process of shared responsibility, engaging the private sector, placing emphasis on accountability and keeping the commitments to accelerate the response for investments in treatment and prevention," said Douglas, the first Caribbean leader to address the Spanish Parliament on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.