Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
GBCHA looks back on a successful year in the fight against HIV/AIDS
The Guyana Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, which represents the private sector’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, has marked its first full successful year. As the group’s members met on Thursday last for the Coalition’s Annual General Meeting, a number of the Coalition’s achievements over the year were highlighted.
In 2009, the organization made significant strides in a number of areas. To begin with, their Secretariat was relocated to Orange Walk, Bourda and in their efforts to utilize every resource at their disposal.
Mrs. Amanda St. Aubyn, outgoing Chair of the GBCHA Board, reports to the members of the Coalition; to her left is Ms. Tracy Lewis who succeeded her as Chairperson after elections were held.
A storeroom at the site was converted later in the year into a Voluntary Counselling and Testing site. The GBCHA’s Annual Report claims that this testing site has become one of the most productive testing sites in the country.
The Coalition also produced and distributed large numbers of targeted health information materials in a number of workplaces while they were engaged in sensitization activities.
According to the Chairman, Amanda St. Aubyn, who is also Country Manager of ScotiaBank, the coalition has managed to reach over 800 individuals in its member companies since October 2009 with these sensitization activities.
They have also trained a number of peer educators and refreshed the training of the previous batch of educators. She also pointed out that in November 2009, 15 member companies of the Coalition came out and supported the National Week of Testing activities. They established 21 temporary testing sites around the country that saw over 2000 people getting tested.
Looking to the year ahead, St. Aubyn said that the GBCHA will be exploring a number of ways in which the Private Sector can address the HIV/AIDS issue in the workplace outside of those already in place. To this end, they are working to facilitate better community partnerships and increased coalition membership, especially in those industries that carry a greater risk of HIV/AIDS.
She also noted that the Coalition will continue to work closely with the Government through the Ministry of Health and the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) as they do all in their power to ensure a strong response to HIV/AIDS in Guyana.
The Coalition stands as a measure of the Private Sector’s commitment to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in Guyana. Launched on May 23rd 2008 as part of the Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention (GHARP I) Project, the organization has a formal membership of some 43 companies.
The GBCHA engages the Private Sector in four main areas. The first being the workplace, where they work to ensure that stigma and discrimination is not only stamped out but stays out of the workplace culture.
The second area is each company’s core competency, where the different resources each company brings to the table are used to promote the organization’s fight against the disease.
The Coalition also works towards furthering the relationship between the Private Sector and the Government and community organizations. Their final charge to their Private Sector members is to create opportunities and conditions that will allow for the development of leaders within their companies who will engage actively in the fight against HIV/AIDS both in the workplace and the wider community.
At the meeting last Thursday, elections were also carried out by the Coalition and St. Aubyn was replaced by Ms. Tracy Lewis, of the Guyana Lottery Company as Chairman of the GBCHA and a new Board of Directors was duly elected.
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