WORLD AIDS DAY 2017 MESSAGES

Dec 01, 2017 News

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Today is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day, designated on December 1 every year since 1988, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of the HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease.  Below are some messages that were issued in observance of World AIDS Day 2017.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL, CARICOM, AMBASSADOR IRWIN LAROCQUE

The Caribbean Community joins the rest of the world in observing World AIDS Day 2017.

Through its specialised agency, the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), the Community has been directly engaged with issues relating to this disease since 2001. The importance of a healthy population was underscored by our Heads of Government when in the Nassau Declaration of that same year, they asserted that the “Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region”. In preserving that wealth, we must be prepared to engage with any threat that diminishes it.

In that regard, the Region has made significant strides in its efforts to reduce the incidence of HIV and AIDS. For example today six new countries will be certified as having achieved the target for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis. That is just the latest evidence that the goals are attainable particularly with the requisite support from our international partners.

Unfortunately, the Caribbean remains one of the most affected regions with serious concern about the increasing prevalence among our youth. It is crucial, therefore for us to maintain and increase our efforts if we are to reverse that trend and preserve the gains that we have made.

The on-going collaboration between PANCAP and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is a key element as we seek to fulfil the goal of expanding access to quality treatment, care and support of people living with HIV and Aids.

To make this year’s observance of World Aids Day meaningful, let us commit ourselves today to the vision of an AIDS-Free Caribbean.

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MICHEL SIDIBÉ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNAIDS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UN

This World AIDS Day, we are highlighting the importance of the right to health and the challenges that people living with and affected by HIV face in fulfilling that right.

The right to health is a fundamental human right—everybody has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals—which include the target of ending AIDS by 2030—without people attaining their right to health. The right to health is interrelated with a range of other rights, including the rights to sanitation, food, decent housing, healthy working conditions and a clean environment.

The right to health means many different things: that no one person has a greater right to health care than anyone else; that there is adequate health-care infrastructure; that health-care services are respectful and non-discriminatory; and that health care must be medically appropriate and of good quality. But the right to health is more than that—by attaining the right to health, people’s dreams and promises can be fulfilled.

On every World AIDS Day, we look back to remember our family members and friends who have died from AIDS-related illnesses and recommit our solidarity with all who are living with or affected by HIV.

From the beginning, the AIDS response was built on the fundamental right to health and well-being. The AIDS community advocated for rights-based systems for health and to accelerate efforts for the world to understand HIV: how to prevent it and how to treat it.

Too many people—especially those who are the most marginalized and most affected by HIV—still face challenges in accessing the health and social services they urgently need. We all must continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people being left behind and demand that no one is denied their human rights.

This year has seen significant steps on the way to meeting the 90–90–90 treatment targets towards ending AIDS by 2030. Nearly 21 million people living with HIV are now on treatment and new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are declining in many parts of the world. But we shouldn’t be complacent. In eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV infections have risen by 60% since 2010 and AIDS-related deaths by 27%. Western and central Africa is still being left behind. Two out of three people are not accessing treatment. We cannot have a two-speed approach to ending AIDS.

For all the successes, AIDS is not yet over. But by ensuring that everyone, everywhere accesses their right to health, it can be.

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1. CÉSAR NÚÑEZ, UNAIDS LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SUPPORT TEAM DIRECTOR

 

This World AIDS Day highlights the importance of the right to health as an essential condition to achieve the end of AIDS by 2030, as set forth in the Sustainable Development Goals.  The right to health is a fundamental human right. It is the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

For the right to health to be fulfilled, it is imperative:

-that everyone, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or social status, has access to the prevention and treatment of any disease,

-that health is affordable or free,

-and that quality health services are free from discrimination.

The right to health goes beyond access to health services and medicines. It is also linked to a variety of important rights, such as access to a comprehensive and quality education, good nutrition and healthy working conditions.  Fulfilling the right to health enables everyone to fulfil their promise and their dreams.

Latin America and the Caribbean have made important progress towards the Fast-Track goals. Latin America is among the regions of the world with the highest proportions of people living with HIV who know their status and in the Caribbean the proportion of people living with HIV who know their status and are on treatment is over 80%.

But we cannot be complacent:

– Not when there are still millions of people such as people living with HIV; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people; sex workers; indigenous populations and migrants, who do not have access to health services because of stigma and discrimination.

– Not when there are still young people and adolescents who are denied the possibility of making informed decisions about their health and well-being, because they do not receive the education they need.

-Not when there are women who, due to inequalities and gender violence, encounter barriers that prevent them from accessing comprehensive health services.

Inequities in access to health are not acceptable and have to be eradicated.  States have a duty to respect, protect and guarantee the right to health of their citizens.

AIDS is not over, but it could be if we make sure that everyone, without exception, anywhere in the world, can fully exercise their right to health.

 

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PANCAP CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE

 

We, the sixteen PANCAP Champions for Change (C4C), join the many voices on this World AIDS Day (WAD) in a clarion call for the right to health to be a fundamental human right for our people. This includes the right to be treated with dignity, irrespective of sexual orientation, social status, age, gender identity or disability.
Our diverse group of youth, religious, medical and media professionals, parliamentarians, academics and advocates come from The Bahamas in the north to Suriname and Guyana in the south.
Collectively, we pledge our support for Universal Health with access and coverage for all. We believe that our Caribbean babies deserve to be born HIV free, and there is no reason why the world’s largest vulnerable group, the disabled, should not enjoy the same rights and respect as others do.
On this WAD and every day of the year, we encourage all the people of our Region to participate in a relentless campaign against HIV/AIDS.  We want to empower our citizens to take responsibility for their health; include all citizens by providing access to health care services without stigma and discrimination; encourage and facilitate their full participation through effective partnerships for sustainability.
We call for prevention efforts to be scaled up to include testing and behaviour change and development communication as we accelerate our efforts to end AIDS by 2030.  We recommend, among other initiatives, the critical involvement of the media in shaping messages for social change.
The media are very important given their power to inform and educate, break the silence, challenge stigma and discrimination, follow-through by connecting audiences to HIV services, and help build political will.
In this regard, we believe that increased engagement of the religious community is a critical factor in this quest; that Social Media and Mass Media should be used strategically for the widest and most instantaneous reach and impact; that the strategic partnership with religious Organizations will reduce the challenges created by ‘miscommunication’ and enhance stakeholders participation in the HIV response.
Indeed, networking with all stakeholders must be the way forward for sustainability. This means redoubling our efforts to get the public and private sectors as well as civil society and religious organizations to join the promotion of Treat All, which includes the concept of Test and Start. In all of this, our Youth must also be at the forefront of the decision-making.
Practical challenges to the status quo and responses to the challenges are needed.  HIV/AIDS/Gender Sexual Violence (GSV) programmes and interventions must outline the importance of religious organizations in the response to GSV as part of the overall response/commitment to the AIDS response; their powerful influence in family life—where much of GSV occurs—and therefore their ability to develop attitudes that lead to non-violent family relationships must be exploited. These are issues that make populations vulnerable to HIV. It is therefore imperative that the Region begins to confront them openly so that the shame and stigma that attend them are to be removed.

As our Region moves towards ending AIDS by 2030, we, the PANCAP Champions for Change, recommend strengthening social norms and policies by involving people living with HIV in planning and implementing relevant and sustainable programmes and services. As everyone has a right to health, health practitioners and facilities must offer innovative modalities for prevention (e.g., Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis [PrEP]).  We must explore and provide the best and preferred HIV treatment options, especially low cost generics, for the preferred medicines that have been recently brokered. For years, there has been advocacy at all levels for better medications for the Caribbean.  Now that this is possible, they must be available for every patient in every Caribbean country.
We think it is important to highlight the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Within this context, as Champions, we have committed to focus on the promotion of healthy living. We reiterate that future interventions and advocacy against stigma directed at key populations, we believe that as a Region, we can end AIDS by 2030.
Finally, we implore the Region (Governments and Civil Society) to invest in behaviour change for development in Caribbean societies as the benefits are a secure and enabling environment that facilitates access to health irrespective of identity and status.
It is also vital to keep stakeholders updated on the results of interventions. In this context, as well we urge our parliamentarians to remove the legal strictures that have hampered prevention, treatment and care programmes.

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