Health

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) As the Caribbean region seeks to intensify its response in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a number of the Region’s youth are being empowered to develop and implement community-based HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support and stigma and discrimination projects.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The decision by the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and its partners_ The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for a regional social marketing programme represents a new landmark in the Caribbean's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This decision was the result of a joint agency meeting that was concluded in Georgetown earlier this week.

The CARICOM/Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) observation mission to Brasilia, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 4-8 April 2005 comprised Dr. The Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Chair of PANCAP, Hon. John Maginley, Minister of Health, Sports and Youth Affairs, Antigua and Barbuda and Chair of Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD); Hon Damien Greaves, Minister of Health, Human Services and Family Affairs, St. Lucia; Dr.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) President of Brazil, His Excellency Lula Inacio Lula da Silva has guaranteed his country's support for Technical Cooperation Programmes and capacity building of HIV/AIDS experts through exchange programmes with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries. President Lula gave this assurance during a meeting with Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, at the Presidential Palace in Brasillia on Tuesday 6 April.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The first Regional Workshop bringing together some seventeen Civil Registrars and Vital Statisticians from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States ended in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday, 6 April, with participants endorsing an initiative to establish a CARICOM Association of Civil Registrars and Vital Statisticians.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)   Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries gearing for the December 2005 implementation of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) are steadily focusing on improving their statistical database to ensure the effective flow of information when the CSM takes off. To this end, a three-day workshop under the theme Strengthening Capacity of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems in CARICOM Member States-Improvement of Statistics on Fertility and Mortality got underway in Georgetown on Monday 4 April.

A high level team led by Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis will visit Brazil from 4-8 April 2005 to examine that country's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to explore avenues for technical cooperation between the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and Brazil, in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.

Under the theme - Champions for Change - a Conference, hosted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in partnership with the Caribbean-led Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and the United Kingdom Department For International Development (DFID), was held in St. Kitts and Nevis on 22-24 November 2004. The purpose of the Meeting was to share International Best Practices on reducing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

Leadership Confronting HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination in The Caribbean

The year is 1982. The first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in the Region.

As we meet today, two decades later_

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) A CARICOM Minister responsible for youth affairs has challenged the Community's young people with the responsibility to "make a difference" in the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic.