In December 2018, three civil society partners, “Care 242”, “The DMARCO Organization” and the “Bahamian Transgender Empowerment for Healthy Living” (BTEHL) collaborated with corporate entities in the Bahamas to bring holiday cheer by providing personal care supplies and psychosocial support to residents of “The All Saints Camp”, an organization focused on People Living with HIV (PLHIV) located in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
The collaboration is depicted in the images below:
Image: SASOD Guyana Public Health Consultant Dr Nastassia Rambarran (left) and Managing Director Joel Simpson with Junior Health Minister Dr Karen Cummings (second, from left) and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Karen Campbell
In January 2019, the Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) Guyana Public Health Consultant Dr. Nastassia Rambarran and Managing Director Joel Simpson met with Junior Health Minister Dr. Karen Cummings and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karen Campbell to discuss recommendations stemming from the organization’s “Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Delivery Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among Key Populations in Guyana.”
In a brief statement, SASOD Guyana said the meeting agreed that a study on the cost-effectiveness of implementing PrEP in terms of averting new infections would strengthen public policy in this area.
As a result, it announced that it has accepted the challenge to find resources and complete the cost-effectiveness study within the next six months. Based on its assessment, SASOD had called last year on the Government to include PrEP as part of its combination prevention approach for adult HIV infections.
One of the key findings of the assessment revealed that in Guyana knowledge of PrEP appears to be minimal, with 60% of the 47 participants stating that they did not know of PrEP, while a significant number of those who claimed to be aware of the option were actually confusing PrEP with Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP).
The assessment was conducted via focus groups in Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten, with financial support from the International HIV and AIDS Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund.
Following research on its effectiveness, the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014 recommended PrEP as an additional HIV prevention choice for groups, such as men who have sex with men and transgender women. This recommendation was extended to all groups in 2015.
Image: Richard David with Joel Earl Simpson (bottom row, third and fourth from left, respectively) with community leaders and attendees at “Equality in Guyana”.
Guyana is the only country in South America where intimacy between a same-sex couple is still illegal. The statute on the books is antiquated as it originated from British colonial days. There could be a window to change this in the near future.
On Saturday, 5 January 2019, Richard David, District Leader of NYS Assembly District 32 hosted a conversation with Joel Earl Simpson, Founding and Managing Director of the Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) at The Figure Studio in South Ozone Park. Titled “Equality in Guyana,” the event addressed specifically how equal rights can become an election issue in Guyana and how the diaspora can help to promote equal rights, even from afar.
“With elections on the horizon, we want the parties and their candidates to speak favourably about human rights and equality for LGBTQ Guyanese,” said David. “When they come to New York for support, we should be asking them for a plan, a timeframe, a clear position on this issue because they have both abandoned it once in office. This issue brings all ethnicities together, and it is why we have brought together a coalition of community leaders in New York.”
Among that coalition of leaders were co-sponsoring partners including SASOD USA Diaspora Network, Caribbean Equality Project, Indo-Caribbean Alliance, Inc., Guyana Tri-State Alliance, Sadhana Coalition of Progressive Hindus, New American Voters Association, Indian Diaspora Council, Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, The Figure Studio and Jahajee Sisters.
The event underscored the important roles that community-based organizations and religious institutions in New York City could play in bringing forward a progressive legal ruling in Guyana as it pertains to homophobic policies. As Joel Earl Simpson of SASOD mentioned at the event, if the statutory language were removed, Guyana would follow countries like India, which recently repealed Section 377 of its Constitution and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which repealed its Sexual Offences Act, along with other countries like Kenya and Singapore.
David also sought to create a space where Guyanese residents in New York City could have community conversations about positive matters. At the event, David mentioned that the neighbourhood is “thriving with religious groups, clothing stores and cutting-edge entrepreneurs who are just out of college and looking to become small business owners. It is therefore important that the neighbourhood is understood and loved for all the great things it has to offer, rather than all the negativity often pitched by media outlets that blemish the community’s reputation”.
Inviting Simpson to South Ozone Park for a high-level conversation on Guyanese policy provided a chance for community leaders and concerned members of the diaspora to present questions and express support of Simpson’s efforts. Simpson himself has an illustrious background, with a Law Degree and a Master’s Degree in Human Rights Law.
David’s conversation with Simpson also paved the way for impacted individuals like Twinkle, also with SASOD, to tell their personal stories. Twinkle, who recently migrated from Guyana to New York City, is a transgender woman and hate crime victim who was denied access to the Guyana Court System simply because she presented as a transgender woman.
“Supporting work and activists on the ground has always been, for me, the key to building sustainable change,” said David. “There is no stronger leader than Joel Earl Simpson and SASOD who are at the grassroots. They are winning hearts and minds, even as they mobilize to take legal action. I hope all Guyanese will find it in their conscience that the LGBTQ community deserves to live as equal citizens.”
Sustainability of youth advocacy beyond donor funding will be the focus of the upcoming Meeting of Youth Leaders scheduled for May 2019. The editor of the PANCAP Newsletter recently discussed the upcoming event with PANCAP Youth Network Chair, Kevin Mendez, who has helmed the PANCAP Youth response to HIV for the last two years.
The Chair expressed enthusiasm about the meeting and explained that it will “serve as a platform to present and organize the youth sexual and reproductive health advocacy efforts exercised by youth leaders, key population members, and Caribbean Youth Ambassadors in their countries and the region”.
The Chair further explained that the Youth Meeting would be a space to celebrate the achievements of the Youth Network and most importantly, critically analyze the current situation regarding youths’ vulnerability to HIV. Participants will also collaborate to develop a “call to action” aimed at decision makers and the network’s sustainable strategic plan post-Global Fund grant.
“As we meet for the third time with the support of PANCAP, sustainability – through partnership – is at the core of our discussions”, stated Kevin.
He further explained, “The Steering Committee is active in identifying local, regional and international organizations and government allies to commit to integrating the advocacy efforts into their existing strategies and how together we can continue improving youth’s access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and our rights”.
“As the planning continues, we are excited for the outcomes of this creative, fun, inclusive and invaluable conference,” stated the Chair.
Press Release:– Efforts to continue developing a framework to overcome HIV, TB and STIs as a public health threat by 2022 are underway as the OECS Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) and Global Fund met recently.
The OECS RCM is making preparations to sign another three –year grant proposal with the Global Fund aimed at eliminating HIV, TB and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
The project will operate in six participating OECS Member States: St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada.
Project Coordinator for the OECS HIV/TB Grant Dr Cleophas D’Auvergne highlighted the goals of this project.
“The major goals of the grant are to reduce the incidence of HIV in line with the 90-90-90 Targets and also move towards TB elimination using a framework for low incidence countries because most of the OECS countries are low incidence countries. The second goal is to improve services for key populations for HIV, TB and STIs. And, ensuring that these services are accessible and affordable.”
Minister for Health and Wellness Sen. Hon. Mary Isaac says the project is extremely important to Saint Lucia as it addresses a critical need for persons with HIV, TB and STIs.
“This grant is aimed at assisting persons living with HIV as well as TB and other STIs. This is a population that we usually don’t remember exists, but they are quite challenged in that there is a lot of stigma attached to these people. So, funding like that comes at a time when it is extremely critical that these people have the ability to access their medications and manage other health issues that they might have.”
The project is being co-funded by the Global Fund for over US $5.5 million dollars for the period of three years spanning April 2019 to April 2022.
The year 2018 is rapidly drawing to a close. I would like to share my reflections on some key achievements during this year. There has been further assessment of our progress and gaps in the response through the evaluation of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS 2014-2018 and the mid-term evaluation of the CARICOM-PANCAP and UNDP-CVC-COIN Global Fund projects. These assessments will be used to inform the development of the new CRSF and adjustment to Global Fund grant activities to achieve the desired outcomes.
PANCAP continued to make its presence felt, expand knowledge sharing and communicate its added value to the region through its Knowledge for Health Project.
A key output of the PANCAP component of the CARIFORUM 10th European Development Fund was a position paper on the human rights situation in the region, which brought together the achievements, gaps, and challenges in one document while highlighting the critical need for justice system reform as a means of increasing key populations’ access to justice.
A Framework for Migrant Health and Rights was developed to serve as a pragmatic approach to migrant populations, which recognizes that a non-discriminatory strategy for public health benefits the entire population. The Framework is rationalized with the vision of regionalism under the CSME and sets out guiding principles and recommended strategies for regional and national action. It was endorsed by the 35th COHSOD – Ministers of Health and operationalization will begin in 2019.
Our youth have been engaging in high-level advocacy with ministers of health and education around issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights. There has been joint dialogue between faith leaders and other groups including key populations, youth, NAP managers and civil society leaders. These engagements are aimed at increasing youth’s access to SRH services, integration of comprehensive sexuality education and development and implementation of gender-inclusive policies and integration of comprehensive sexuality education into the Health and Family Life Education curriculum, as well as the adoption of CARICOM Anti-Discrimination Legislation by countries.
We continue to engage in dialogue regarding the judgmental attitudes towards LGBTI persons and justice for key populations following the Trinidad and Tobago High Court Ruling that the Buggery Law is unconstitutional and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Ruling that Guyana’s Crossdressing law is unconstitutional.
We have seen greater ownership of the Partnership by its members through shared responsibility. While external funding is steadily declining, donors are supporting the region to transition responsibly.
The Partnership was supported by USAID-Abt Associates Health Finance and Governance Project to revise the PANCAP Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Plan 2018-2020 to garner resources to support the achievement of regional goals and targets articulated in the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS.
PANCAP-CVC-COIN joined forces to submit a proposal to the Global Fund in the amount of US$6.5 million over three years. The consortium has been requested to proceed to grantmaking following the Technical Review Panel’s approval. PEPFAR-USAID approved another year of funding for the fiscal year 2019 to support PANCAP’s coordination function and the PEPFAR-USAID funded Knowledge for Health Project also received an extension to 2019. UNAIDS committed financial resources to support the documentation function of PANCAP.
The Caribbean Med Labs Foundation (CMLF) celebrated its 10th Anniversary in August and has recommitted to providing the leadership required for laboratory strengthening in the region.
CRN+ convened its Biannual General Meeting and elected a new Board of Directors to provide the oversight for its work. The Regional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Technical Working Group broadened its mandate beyond HIV to include the M&E for the Caribbean Cooperation in Health IV. Under the CARICOM-PANCAP Global Fund Grant, PANCAP continued sensitization of the CARICOM Secretariat on the linkages between HIV, human rights and social development programmes and identified opportunities for collaboration during the annual work programme planning at the Secretariat. This is beginning to bear fruit as evidenced by the joint activity between the PANCAP Coordinating Unit and the Gender Unit to commemorate the Launch of the World AIDS Day 2018 theme and 16 Days of Activism to end Gender-based Violence.
In 2019 the Partnership will develop a new Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework for HIV and AIDS that is informed by the CRSF 2014-2018 evaluation, implement the PANCAP Resource Mobilisation Plan, and leverage the comparative advantage of development partners for transition and sustainability of both national and regional responses.
I take this opportunity to thank the staff of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit for their stellar performance and unwavering support for the work of the Partnership.
I wish the Partnership a Blessed and Peaceful Christmas.
Image: (L-R) Marvin Livan and Peter Pooran
Written by Subraj Singh, Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD)
Earlier this year, I spoke to Marvin Livan and Peter Pooran, a young same-sex couple, who identify as LGBTQ+ Guyanese, as well as church-going Christians. Their story is unusual and beautiful and serves as a reminder that there are still people in the world who use their faith to do good, people who try to represent the tenets of the Bible, which teaches love and acceptance for all people.
Marvin and Peter use their religion in a way that brings them closer together as a couple. Perhaps this is unsurprising given that the duo actually met in a church. Prior to recounting the events of the day when they first saw each other, Marvin acknowledged that although he had been married to a woman before, he had come to a point in his life where he had to authentically face his attraction to men, and therefore, when he saw Peter in church on that particular day, it was easy for Marvin to approach and talk to him.
The church tradition helped to facilitate the meeting of the two young men, since it is customary in for the congregation to mingle at the end of the service, to converse or maybe just hang out. It was in one of these moments after the church-service that Marvin took Peter’s copy of the Bible and wrote his number at the back, with the advice to call him if Peter ever wanted to talk. Although there was an attraction from their first meeting, Peter did not call Marvin right away. After several months, Peter’s call led to the men conversing more often and this laid the foundation for their romantic relationship.
Marvin notes that even though their relationship has the normal ups and downs that are experienced by every young couple, he believes that their relationship is strong, especially with the emphasis that they put on being together and on being faithful to each other. He also says that he has been accepted as a member of the Anglican Church and that although there are people within the church who know about his relationship with Peter, he is still accepted and he still maintains his status as an avid churchgoer. Marvin hopes to one day become a priest and to be able to invite LGBTQ+ persons into the “house of God.” As a priest, he hopes one day to facilitate persons to serve in the church if they have the call to serve, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Marvin credits his love of church and the joy he feels being a Christian to his religious upbringing and to those who encouraged him to become an altar boy when he was a child.
Peter for his part shares that he is as religious as his partner, pointing out that he has been going to church since he was seven years old. When he met Marvin, he was hesitant about attending his partner’s church. However, after seeing the impact the Anglican Church had on Marvin, Peter finally decided to give it a chance. He describes his experience of stepping into the church in terms of profound sanctity and credits this joy and sense of fulfillment he experienced in the church as the reason for his continued presence there.
Peter believes everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity, should come forward to serve the Lord. This is something that Marvin also advocates for, as he maintains that the church can be a place of education on gender and sexual diversity and a place for LGBTQ+ persons to meet other people who intersect with the Christian community, such as Marvin and himself. Marvin firmly believes that Jesus loves LGBTQ+ people exactly as they are.
Peter plans on coming out to the priest of the church they attend, and this truly seems to be important to him, which is unsurprising since many gay people long to be accepted in any social group or institution as their true, authentic selves. He is convinced that the reactions of fellow parishioners to him will not change and that he will continue to be accepted in the church, as there are already some people in the church who are aware of their relationship.
On the reactions of other sections of the Christian community who preach homophobia, Marvin contends that the evidence for a case against homosexuality in the Bible is weak and sees his sexuality as a blessing from God. He also emphasizes the fact that everyone sins and that there are aspects of the Bible that are conveniently left unaddressed by homophobes in order to maintain a lack of culpability and repentance for the sins they also commit that are outlined in the Bible.
Both men believe that human beings are human beings and they should be allowed into the church because sexual and gender minorities have the same emotions and beliefs as everyone else, and people should have the right to believe in and serve God.
Being so vocal about the church and sexuality issues places Marvin and Peter in a special category of Christians who are able to reconcile their love for each other and their religion in a way that does not require them to compromise their feelings about who they are and about the church in any way. They firmly believe that the church can support LGBTQ+ people to live their truth and that it is the Christian way to welcome all, to represent goodness and kindness, regardless of who the person is. They both are extraordinary not only in their love for each other but in their dedication to their faith and the ways in which they want these two major parts of themselves to come together and work for the betterment of the entire world.
The Department of Pathology, The University of the West Indies (UWI), was presented with the Certification (Award) of Accreditation in conformance with the ISO 15189:2012 International standard from the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC). The honour was bestowed on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), at an awards function hosted at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.
The accreditation scope for the Department of Pathology includes Chemical Pathology, Haematology, Flow Cytometry, and Cytology.
Dr. Donovan McGrowder (Director of the Accreditation Committee) and Mrs. Julene Smith-Valentine (Quality Manager) received the Certificate from Mrs. Andrene Collings, Acting Permanent Secretary to MICAF, in the presence of JANAAC’s Chairman, Mr. Simon Roberts and Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Sharonmae Shirley.
In her remarks, Mrs. Smith-Valentine expressed gratitude to the Head of the Department of Pathology , Dr. Gilian Wharfe, the Director of the Accreditation committee, Dr. McGrowder, the Quality Assurance Team (Mr. R. White, Mrs. G. Martindale-Williams, Mrs. G. Hamm, Mrs. C. Green, Mrs. A. Low-Lewis, Mr. G. Burnell and Mr. K. Vaz), and all staff members in the Sub-Departments for working assiduously in making the milestone possible.
“We have been working towards this milestone since 2002, and it would be negligent of me not to recognize the hard-working staff now retired (Mrs. V. Hanson, Mrs. V. Smith, and Mrs. J. Powell-Jones) who worked alongside Dr. McGrowder to drive this process before I came onboard in 2014”, said Mrs. Smith-Valentine.
She concluded that as the Department of Pathology moves forward, the goal is to continue to strive for excellence in the services offered to clients through the competence of staff and the quality work generated.
The Office of the Prime Minister, National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC), Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization hosted an HIV Combination Prevention Meeting with national partners in September 2018.
The main objective of the meeting was to strengthen and enhance the national capacity to provide comprehensive HIV/STIs services for adults and adolescents.
The Honourable Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister in her feature address at the opening ceremony stated that “the empowerment of citizens to their sexual and reproductive health essentials, requires that we look at all the systems that need to be put in place to ensure that the policies, facilities, education, services, and community support are available to prevent and control the spread of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections”.
She emphasized that everyone has a part to play and that all stakeholders can support the NACC to achieve its mandate to end AIDS by 2030 by reducing the population’s susceptibility to HIV and AIDS.
Dr. Eldonna Boisson, PAHO Country Representative stated that we know of the ambitious elimination goals for HIV/STI and that these goals require an accelerated response to HIV and STIs. She indicated that in order to achieve these goals, high-impact intervention, technologies and approaches were needed. She called for “focused actions tailored to the needs of key populations”.
Dr. Ayanna Sebro, Technical Director, NACC Secretariat in her address emphasized the need to “consider opportunities for the prevention of other sexually transmitted infections, gender-based violence, poverty, social determinants and other matters that affect the sexual and reproductive health and rights of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago within one service”. She noted that this type of integrative approach is one that will not only benefit the clients but will also improve the efficiency of services.
Over three days, participants addressed the opportunities to collaborate, partner and create synergies to promote institutional innovation and effectiveness for service delivery, intervention, treatment and prevention of HIV and STIs. The Meeting agreed that collaboration is key to ensuring that the most vulnerable populations have access to HIV prevention.
Image: (L-R) Nurse Sieds Wildenbeest, Nurse Willemien Dorama, Dr. Frank Kroon and Dr. Kees Brinkman.
People Living with HIV (PLHIV), civil society organizations, health navigators, peer counselors and “peer buddies” participated in a knowledge sharing exercise facilitated by The Double Positive Foundation, a Suriname-based civil society organization. The event was implemented in collaboration with the National AIDS Programme Suriname.
The exercise encompassed valuable advice for PLHIV on the medications intended for Tuberculosis and HIV that may counteract with each other.
The presentations were conducted by Dr. Kees Brinkman, Dr. Frank Kroon, Nurse Willemien Dorama and Nurse Sieds Wildenbeest.
At the culmination of the activity, Dr. Kees Brinkman presented Ms. Ethel Pengel, Chair of Double Positive with a copy of “Hello Gorgeous”, a magazine produced by PLHIV. The subject of the magazine’s cover story, Netherlands activist Ms. Janice Telgt, also attended the event to meet with participants of the knowledge sharing activity.
Image: (L-R) Ms. Ethel Pengel, Chair, Double Positive, Dr. Kees Brinkman and Ms. Janice Telgt
