Latest update December 20th, 2024 4:27 AM
Latest News
- EPA shamefully omitted sections Exxon Permit to argue against unlimited parent company guarantee for oil spills- Dr. Adams
- Hicken appointed top cop
- Israeli attacks pummel Gaza’s north as UN denounces lack of aid access
- Brutus refutes claims of attempting to leave Guyana
- Man gets life imprisonment sentence for felonious wounding
PANCAP appoints new Director
According to a release from the CARICOM Secretariat, Dereck Anthony Springer has been appointed Director of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP).
Springer, a public health practitioner, behavioural scientist and strategic manager brings to the position 20 years of experience in the health sector, focusing on HIV and mental health. His extensive experience in policy, management and programme implementation at the national and regional levels has been facilitated by his work with civil society, government, regional and international technical assistance agencies.
Dereck Springer
Prior to this appointment, Springer served as Strategy and Resourcing Officer, in the PANCAP Coordinating Unit, CARICOM Secretariat, providing broad-based leadership to PANCAP’s resource mobilization and strategic planning platform. He also had responsibility for the management of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit’s component of the Global Fund Round 9 Grant.
Springer previously served as a regional consultant in several health and development programmes, and as the National Coordinator of Voluntary Counselling and Testing for the Ministry of Health Guyana and as UNAIDS’ Focal Point in Guyana. He was also the Senior Advisor at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global AIDS Program.
Springer, who began his public health career as a Volunteer Counsellor at the Genito-Urinary Medicine Clinic, Guyana, has a deep understanding of, and sensitivity to the current issues that PANCAP is grappling with and is deeply committed to a Partnership which translates evidence to real change for people on the ground.
Asked about his immediate priority, the Director said it was providing leadership to create a supporting environment for eliminating stigma and discrimination and building consensus around the principles of human rights by promoting the roadmap of the PANCAP Justice for all programme. He said he looks forward to providing the dynamic and effective leadership required for re-engineering PANCAP and retooling the PANCAP Coordinating Unit to be responsive to the changing global HIV landscape within the milieu of health and development.
He plans to utilize persuasive public health and economic evidence to make a case for prioritizing HIV and obtaining the commitment required for country ownership and shared responsibility, key elements for sustaining the Region’s response towards an AIDS-free generation.
Springer called on the wider Partnership to join him and the PANCAP Executive Board in their resolve to deliver on the Caribbean region’s commitments to achieve the targets of the 2010 PANCAP Tenth AGM Resolution and the 2011 UN High Level Meeting, including stopping new HIV infections, keeping people alive, stopping stigma and discrimination and widening the scope of the response.
Springer, who succeeds Ms. Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, reaffirmed his commitment to a broad-based consultative process in concluding the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF) 2014-2018, which will guide the Partnership’s response and his work. He applauded the involvement in and strong support of all partners, including donors and regional agencies for this inclusive process.
In addition to a Master of Public Health degree that Springer earned from the University of Nottingham, England, he also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Drug and Alcohol Policy and Intervention from the University of London, England.
PANCAP was set up by regional governments in 2001 to coordinate the Caribbean response to HIV and AIDS.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
A question of timing and priorities
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The advent of significant oil discoveries has catapulted Guyana into the global spotlight.... more
Let the asylum seekers go: a first step for Venezuela to rebuild relations in the Americas
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many... more
Weekend Cartoon
