Preventing the spread of HIV must start with the individual

Dec 05, 2016 News

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 – Caricom officials

Prevention is a key and critical factor needed to bring an end to HIV/AIDS.  But in order to realise prevention each individual will have to play an integral part.
“Because it depends on each one of us…Are we responsible enough? Do we want to change our behaviours and attitudes? As long as we do not want to do it, it is not going to end,” asserted Dr. Manorma Soeknandan, Deputy Secretary General (DSG) at the Caricom Secretariat.
Dr. Soeknandan vocalised her suspicion that plans to end HIV by 2030 may not be achievable.
According to Dr. Soeknandan, while family support may be forthcoming, “we often forget what our family, society have to go through…the sacrifices that they have to bear because of us not wanting to change our behaviour and our attitude.”
The DSG observed that while Caricom member states are undeniably very committed to providing care and support for HIV positive citizens, prevention remains a crucial measure to realise the desired results of ending the disease transmission altogether.

“If we can help each other and we can help our governments minimise that struggle then we can do it.”
She added “if you want to end HIV/AIDS we also have to look currently at what’s going on not only in the world but also with our youth – our children. They are falling prey to certain practices and certain beliefs in our society.”
Dr. Soeknandan concluded that if persons do not look out for each other, particularly the youth, then there will be no end to HIV/AIDS.

But Caricom Assistant Secretary General for Human and Social Development, Dr. Douglas Slater, is confident that the path to ending HIV/AIDS will be possible once it starts with the individual. While there is a lot of stigma and blame associated with the disease it can be brought to an end “If we can do the hand pledge and say let it start with me,” he said.
And this is possible, since according to Dr. Slater, sexual activity has long been known as the primary way of transmission.  He, moreover, noted that if each individual recognises the importance of prevention and take necessary steps, prevention can be realised.
These disclosures were forthcoming last Thursday as Caricom, through its Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) arm, held a forum at the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown headquarters to commemorate World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is commemorated annually across the globe on December 1.
This year PANCAP, which is observing 15 years of existence, has embraced the notion of ‘HIV Prevention’ the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day observance. In fact PANCAP is leading the way in revitalizing awareness of HIV prevention methods through a social media education initiative in observance of World AIDS Day 2016 which highlights messages advocating prevention from Civil Society Organizations and other PANCAP stakeholders and partners.
Through the PANCAP Knowledge for Health (K4Health) project, the entity utilized social media platforms to promote a series of electronic posters with messages about condom use, abstinence and other suggested prevention methods from policymakers, key Civil Society Organizations, health care professionals and other influential groups.
The objective is to reach the young generation in particular through the use of popular social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook which, according to PANCAP Director, Mr Dereck Springer, is a key population with regard to the urgent need for more prevention education.
The overarching aim of the PANCAP World AIDS Day social media awareness initiative is to inspire PANCAP’s network of civil society organizations, partners, stakeholders and all organizations and individuals involved in health care to propagate messages related to HIV prevention among key populations.
According to Springer, even as the gains made over the years are highlighted it is important to acknowledge the significant contributions of people who are living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
On Thursday, he recalled that his response to the disease started several years ago as a counsellor at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Genitourinary Medicine (GUM) clinic. At that time, Springer recalled that “people were coming into the clinic when they already had full blown AIDS and therefore survival was sometimes limited to a few days, a few weeks and a few months.”
“Every time you visited the ward at the hospital, what you saw were people who were suffering, people who were neglected, people who were stigmatised not just by the health care providers but by their families and the rest of society,” recalled Springer.
According to the PANCAP Director, when he visited the United States in 2001 as part of the US State Department International Visitors programme he was given an opportunity to look at the HIV response from the policy and implementation level in seven cities there.
“I could only dream at that time that we in the Caribbean would have access to antiretroviral,” said Springer as he gloated over the fact that today there are 52 per cent of persons who are HIV positive on antiretroviral treatment.
As part of the World AIDS Day observance, a quantity of food hampers were handed over to National AIDS Programme (NAPS) Manager, Dr. Rhonda Moore, who emphasized the importance of a healthy and balance diet for an HIV infected person.

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