Latest update November 21st, 2024 10:15 PM
Latest News
- ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu for ‘war crimes’ in Gaza
- Guyana’s 4th oil project is the ‘big thing’ for 2025 – Hess boss tells energy conference
- India, Guyana sign pact for oil exploration, refineries
- US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire
- Powership company has chequered past
UNAIDS on HIV infection rate… Reaching men constrained by insufficient health services -Gay men, men who have sex with men accounted for quarter of new cases in 2017
Gay men and other men who have sex with men accounted for nearly a quarter of new HIV infections recorded in 2017.
This is according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2018.
The report also highlights that efforts to reach men and boys, and particularly gay men and other men who have sex with men, are constrained by health services insufficiently tailored to their needs and limited community-based services.
To build capacity in the area of improving access to health by men, the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS [PANCAP] will host a Knowledge Management Share Fair.
The Fair set for March 14 in Trinidad and Tobago will target participants, including over 80 National AIDS Programme [NAP] Managers and Implementing Partners such as civil society organizations that work with people living with HIV and key population groups [including youth].
The Share Fair is an initiative of the PANCAP Knowledge for Health project, which aims to enhance knowledge generation, sharing, and learning among HIV programme implementers and civil society around the implementation of ‘treat all’ and the ‘90-90-90 targets’.
While the ‘treat all’ recommendation speaks to the removal of limitations on eligibility for antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV, the 90-90-90 targets aim at ensuring that 90 percent of the estimated number of people living with HIV are aware of their status; that 90 percent of those aware of their status are on sustained antiretroviral therapy, and of those on antiretroviral 90 percent must be virally suppressed.
PANCAP Knowledge Coordinator, Dr. Shanti Singh-Anthony
The Share Fair will, moreover, expand on the capacity building initiatives implemented by the Project. These include the Knowledge Synthesis and Best Practices Workshop [2016], South-to-South Learning Exchanges to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica [2017-2018], Treat All Message Design Workshop [2017], “Collaborating and Learning towards Treat All” Share Fair [2018], PANCAP webinars, and other ongoing regional knowledge management efforts around 90-90-90 and Treat All.
It will provide a space for NAP managers and Civil Society Organization [CSO] representatives to showcase best practices from implementation experiences, discuss critical challenges, and provide recommendations for increasing access to services for men, including men who have sex with men and other key populations in achieving 90-90-90.
The Share Fair will include a Knowledge Café, which will highlight successful Men’s Health programmes. According to PANCAP Knowledge Coordinator, Dr. Shanti Singh-Anthony, the intention is to highlight innovations from country programmes that have achieved positive results in relation to increasing access to prevention, treatment, care and support services by men and boys.
Implementers of programmes who are challenged to reach men with health services can use the innovative practices to increase men’s access to quality health services.
“Previous Share Fairs were successful in forging stronger partnerships and collaboration between NAP Managers and CSOs and sharing of best practices,” stated Dr. Singh-Anthony.
She added, “We intend to build on these successes. We cannot afford to leave our men and young boys behind at this critical stage of the HIV response. The Share Fair will provide an ideal opportunity for the two groups to utilize the lessons learned from the region to enhance services for men.
“The overarching objective is to increase the number of men and boys who are accessing HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.”
Participants will also share implementation experiences in relation to the provision of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis [PrEP], innovations for reaching and testing key populations, and strategies for sustaining the HIV response.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Bureaucracy gone bananas!
…Peeping Tom kaieteur News- Every morning, the government wakes up, stretches its arms, and spends one billion dollars... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
