UNICEF commits to boosting VCT services on the Corentyne

Nov 17, 2008 News

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ROSE HALL TOWN, CORENTYNE — UNICEF is spending some $10.5 million to enhance Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) facilities at the St. Francis Community Developers at Rose Hall Town on the Corentyne. The duration of the venture is from October 2008 to September 2009.

These services all fall under the Family, Youth and Children at Risk Project.
Flavio Rose Vice-President of the St. Francis Community Developers, explained that the entity has several components which strive to alleviate the social ills of society.

When the St. Francis Community Developers established its first VCT Stand Alone Site in 2003, it was funded by UNICEF and the National AIDS Programme Secretariat. Over the past five years, other organizations, such as the Population Services International (PSI), Family Health International (FHI), and the United States Agency for International Development/Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project (USAID/GHARP) joined forces and assisted in the expansion of the VCT service.

St. Francis Developers has been providing in-house and mobile voluntary counselling and testing along with HIV/AIDS education, community mobilization and outreach among institutions and communities.

Under this VCT project, some 35 communities are to be serviced, 15 of which are under-served areas and include Orealla and Siparuta, and communities along the East Bank Berbice, West Canje and Black Bush Polder. Some 695 new clients for this fiscal year are to be targeted.

Deputy Representative of UNICEF for Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, Deguene Fall, said that Guyana recorded its first AIDS case in 1987; and from then to 2006, figures officially reported to the Ministry of Health stand at 7,831 cases.

“UN AIDS estimates that 2.4 percent of the adult population in Guyana is living with HIV/AIDS. If we are two hundred people gathered in this room, on average, five of us would be infected by HIV/AIDS – and many more will have HIV/AIDS affecting our friends and families.

“For UNICEF, it is a harsh truth that, unless strong action is taken, today’s children and youth of Guyana are set to become tomorrow’s victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

Ms. Fall spoke of some of the efforts of UNICEF, along with its collaborative partners, in the fight against the deadly virus.

According to her, prevention through voluntary counselling and testing; ensuring that 100 percent of infected children are given proper treatment; support to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS;and, most importantly, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV are some steps being taken.

“It must be repeated again and again that HIV does not necessarily have to transmit from mother to child. It can easily be prevented. And UNICEF is very pleased that the intervention to prevent mother to child transmission (PMCT) has been successful in Guyana.”

It was against this backdrop that she delivered the feature address at the re-launching of the St. Francis Community Developers’ implemented Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Project in Region Six last week.

“Towards achieving these goals, UNICEF is proud to be in partnership with St. Francis Community Developers. The partnership has gone on for more than seven years now, and has grown from the initial exclusive focus on HIV/AIDS to the current focus on issues of child protection, health and family life education, with strong components of community and youth participation and empowerment.”

The UNICEF Representative stressed the importance of voluntary counselling and testing sites to have the right facilities that would allow for confidential counselling and testing, as well as the appropriate skills for the people delivering these services.

“I would like to take the opportunity to commend St. Francis for the excellent work being done in the area of care and support for orphans and other vulnerable children and their families.”

On November 21, Guyana will observe National Day of Testing. A week has been set aside for this activity, starting today.

The theme selected this year is ‘Stop AIDS – Keep the Promise’. This is an appeal to ensure that the targets set in the fight against HIV/AIDS are met, and more particularly, the promise of universal access to HIV treatment, care and support and prevention services by 2010.

The re-launching of the St. Francis project is a step towards fulfilling this promise in Guyana. 
President of the St. Francis Community Developers, Alex Foster, and another member of the organisation are in Trinidad, where they are expected to share their knowledge and practices with the CARICOM sister country.

The St. Francis Community Developers commissioned its $20 million administrative building last June. This structure, which is located at J.C. Chandisingh Avenue in Rose Hall Town, is part of a $2.5 billion Community Empowerment Complex and Development Village.

The objective is to train ordinary grass roots people for leadership roles in community development across Guyana, the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.

The entire Community Empowerment Complex and Development Village would span a 10-acre plot of land and occupy17 buildings. These are to offer various services to complement each other, so as to provide a comprehensive community developmental experience and training.

UNICEF, over the years, has been injecting large amounts of money to boost the services offered by St. Francis and its support groups. In May, UNICEF handed over some $22 million to the St. Francis Community Developers and some of their support groups for the family projects.

Also delivering brief remarks at the function, which was held at the new site, were Chief of Party, USAID/GHARP, Kwame Asiedu, and Region Six Education Officer Shafiran Bhajan.

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