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Even in the face of dwindling financial support, the Region has been entrusted with just under US$30M to aid the fight against HIV/AIDS, compliments of Global Fund to fight AIDS,Andrew Desjardins Jersey, Tuberculosis and malaria (GFATM).Secretary General (ag) Lolita ApplewhaiteThis is according to Acting Secretary General,Alex Delvecchio Red Wings Jersey, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite who said that the funds will enable the Region to continue the struggle, adding that the continued support is indicative of the level of confidence that has been placed in the strategies and actions employed by CARICOM in the fight against HIV/AIDS.According to her it is heartening that support is yet forthcoming.This grant funding, according to her, is expected to be advanced in two phases and will support a strategic regional approach to help develop the systems needed to deal with those persons who are most at risk,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, including and especially young persons.She added that the funds will be used in the area of prevention and to support an environment of treatment.The Region looks forward to the United Nations high level meeting on HIV/AIDS which will take place in June at a New York venue.This forum is expected to shape the future agenda of international and regional responses, building on lessons learnt over the past 10 years since the first United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS.Ms Applewhaite said that PANCAP and Caricom, in consultation with UNAIDS, have initiated a process to support the Heads of Government who will be participating in the High level meeting.It was just recently that Head of Human and Social Development at Caricom, Ms Myrna Bernard,Throwback Jerseys, noted that although the world has changed fundamentally since the historic commitments to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to HIV/AIDS,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys, that the recent global economic crisis has resulted in significant decrease in donor spending for HIV/AIDS, especially for low and middle income countries.She recounted that the 2009 UNAIDS Report on country studies cited the negative impact of the crisis on AIDS programmes and noted that the percentage of countries where anti-retroviral treatment programmes were adversely affected by reduced external funding rose from 11 to 21 percent from July 2008 to July 2009.Of specific interest is the fact that prevention programmes were identified as the most likely to be worse affected in all countries receiving external funding, Bernard added.“This point must be of specific concern to the Region since control of the epidemic is contingent on reducing the number of new infections which in turn requires aggressive development and implementation of prevention campaigns targeting those deemed to be more at risk.”According to Bernard the Caribbean has witnessed first-hand the devastating effects which the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had on all aspects of its development both nationally and regionally.These effects, she said,Dwight Howard Hawks Jersey, have been felt on the individual, family and community levels, most obvious in the lost of human capital due to death and illness but also in the early stage of the epidemic which is characterised by the trauma of hopelessness and compounded by stigma and discrimination. |
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