(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Celebrating its recent milestone of constitutional change, St. Maarten will once again come into the spotlight as host of the Tenth Meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP).
The three-day meeting from the 31 October to 2 November 2010, begins the celebration of a major milestone of the Partnership and promises to be an extraordinary one. At an official opening in which the keynote address will be delivered by Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation and former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, PANCAP will also inaugurate its award for excellence.
PANCAP was established on 14 February 2001 by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments, as a regional mechanism to accelerate the response to the spread of HIV and AIDS. Since then, it has been the umbrella for the provision of regional goods and services to a variety of stakeholders including people living with HIV and AIDS.
Described as one of the finest examples of social engineering, PANCAP, over the past ten years, has demonstrated a resilience to "ride" the tide of challenges thrown up by the epidemic, not least among which is today’s reality of reduced financing for HIV and AIDS programming. PANCAP Member States have been particularly affected, since many of them have been classified as middle income countries which do not qualify for grants or concessional loans. How to deal with this situation has preoccupied PANCAP leaders over the past two years and will also be discussed at this 10th AGM, which will reflect on the key successes and challenges of the Partnership and define the essential agenda for its further progress.
But what specifically has been the scorecard of this Partnership which has expanded from six original signatories in 2001 to more than 60 members from the English-, Dutch-, French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and a designated UNAIDS international best practice in 2004, due to its governance structure?
Over the last ten years, PANCAP’s accomplishments have included the mobilization of financial and technical resources. These have been used to support the strengthening of regional institutions that are involved in HIV and AIDS programmes. Development of regional model legislation and policies aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS, youth programmes targeted at behaviour change to reduce the incidence of HIV among the 15-29 years and increased access to antiretroviral drugs and advocacy initiatives which have advanced the case for universal access to prevention, care, and treatment and support, in keeping with the millennium development goals, have all benefited from these resources.
HIV-related stigma and discrimination is a big problem in the Region and according to a recent report by UNAIDS is largely associated with fanning the spread of the epidemic. PANCAP’s Champion for Change programme initiated in 2004 was an attempt to create a wide cross-section of advocates against stigma and discrimination from among parliamentarians, youth, cultural and sports icons, representatives of labour, business and faith-based organizations. This process also resulted in the establishment of a PANCAP Stigma and Discrimination Unit located in Barbados, which is tasked with providing technical assistance to country level evidence-informed programmes.
PANCAP has developed regional model legislation and policies that strengthens human rights for those living with HIV. Model legislation promoting the rights of people with HIV and most at risk populations and model codes of practice and guidelines for psychosocial and medical practitioners which improve the delivery of treatment and care services, provide but two examples. The PANCAP Regional Workplace policy which incorporates International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines on model practices for dealing with non-discriminatory employment practices for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) and which are increasingly being applied in workplaces throughout the region, provide another example.
Another area which the Partnership claims significant results is its efforts to accelerate care and treatment. This began in 2002 with the path breaking PANCAP negotiations with six pharmaceutical companies resulting in the reduction by approximately 90 per cent in the cost of anti-retroviral drugs for the PLWA in the Caribbean. When the Clinton Foundation joined PANCAP in 2003, it was instrumental in securing even greater access to ARVs through the availability of generics. Then a PANCAP Mission to Brazil in 2005 resulted in a gift from Brazil of ARVs for all PLWAs in the OECS countries.
Many countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana provide ARVs either free of cost or at highly subsidized prices to PLWA. For all these reasons, PLWA in the Caribbean are living longer and healthier lives. At the same time, clinical care capacity in all countries has been increased through training and sensitization of health care workers and the provision of strengthened laboratories which has led to improved diagnostic investigations.
PANCAP’s contribution to pre-service and in-service training in the various aspects of HIV and AIDS response in no small measure, has played a part in building the human resource capabilities for dealing with the HIV & AIDS response.
With respect to prevention, targeted initiatives by the Partnership have resulted in blood safety precautions; Caribbean-wide implementation to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS; youths mainstreamed in HIV prevention initiatives through engagement and grant awards to CARICOM Youth Ambassadors and accelerated training and updating of regional approaches to Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curricula.
Of importance is the increasing role of the business community in the region. The multi-sectoral response to the epidemic, for example, has been strengthened through the establishment of a Pan Caribbean Business Coalition against HIV and AIDS which was launched on the occasion of the 5th Annual General Meeting of PANCAP in Trinidad and Tobago, in 2005. Since that time national business coalitions exist in five member countries and play active roles in the HIV and AIDS responses in the respective countries.
PANCAP’s efforts and a measure of its success may be illustrated in the more than US$50 million mobilised since its inception. This does not include more recent awards, such as the US$31M from the Global Fund to support activities in the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF) for 2010-2015 and the contributions from the United States President Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) II. The Funds have facilitated implementation of a range of interventions in the Caribbean’s response to reverse the epidemic. The current status of the Caribbean indicates, among other things, a 40 % decline in AIDS-related mortality and an 18% reduction of new HIV infections among children.
And notwithstanding, the Caribbean being among the highest affected regions of the world, and the continuing gaps in prevention programmes with respect to the inclusion and protection of most at risk populations, important gains and advances in the Caribbean’s response, and great strides have been made.
In the words of PANCAP’S Chair, the Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis
"…[PANCAP] signifies what can be achieved when there is a collective vision and a coordinated mission and an action plan…. the virtue of creative leadership, the value of goodwill among partners and the validation of stakeholders".
These, according to the Prime Minister, "are attributes that are imbued in this unique Partnership and which have contributed to its success over these past ten years".
The Partnership holds its Tenth Annual General Meeting under a most appropriate theme; Reflection and Renewal, and has identified an agenda which includes reflecting on its key successes and challenges and defining the essential agenda for its further progress. Moving towards a more mature partnership and charting new horizons for human rights and the greater involvement of people with HIV and AIDS are important indicators of that progress.