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Thursday, 12 December 2019 (ANIRA Foundation, Georgetown Guyana): The ANIRA Foundation Inc., a not-for-profit organisation focused on the education and empowerment of vulnerable groups, will increase efforts to advocate for the health and well-being of Guyanese youth, particularly young women through strategic initiatives focused on adolescent health and rights and building the intellectual capacity of young Guyanese.

While the Foundation was officially launched on Thursday 12 December 2019, it has successfully implemented projects aimed at the empowerment of young women and the education of youth since 2017.

Founded by H. E. Sandra Granger, First Lady of Guyana and Co-Chair, Spouses of the CARICOM Leaders Action Network (SCLAN), the Foundation has embarked on a project, “Pilots of the Caribbean” with the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Social Protection to reduce the amount of teenage pregnancies among vulnerable girls (in and out of school youth), decrease the rates of HIV and Syphilis among sexually active youth, immunize vulnerable girls against HPV and increase the amount of post-pregnant teens who complete school or vocational skills programmes.  The project also aims to create awareness of gender-based violence and its effect on vulnerable women’s exposure to HIV.  The project is under the umbrella of the Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network (SCLAN) and is supported by the Gilead Foundation at a cost of USD$ 251, 000.00.

The Foundation will also seek to foster a passion for Science, Technology and Mathematics with the distribution of “Robot Kits” to school-aged youth in communities across Guyana including Hinterland Regions through a collaboration with STEMGuyana.

Ms Granger is passionate about safeguarding the health and wellbeing of vulnerable women and the empowerment of youth which inspired her to create the Foundation.

“Beyond providing access to health services and education, ANIRA aims to place the power of securing good health and the ability to earn an income into the hands of vulnerable groups,” stated Ms Granger, “it is not enough to provide access to health and skills training, ANIRA will ensure young girls and youth have the requisite skills and knowledge to safeguard their sexual and reproductive health and to secure employment”.

With the expert skills and experience of a 14-member board of directors and a project implementation team, the Foundation will serve to fulfil Ms Granger’s vision of self-sufficient Guyanese youth and empowered young women.  The Foundation’s work is external to Ms Granger’s responsibilities as First Lady and will serve to achieve her goal of a better life for Guyanese youth.

“ANIRA goes beyond my work as First Lady to fulfil my lifelong dream of a Guyana where our young people have the knowledge to make healthy choices and can utilise their innate talents and skills to provide for their families,” stated Ms Granger, “The Foundation exists to secure the future of Guyana’s youth by placing the power of knowledge into the hands of vulnerable groups”.

– ENDS –

What is the ANIRA Foundation?

The ANIRA Foundation is a not-for-profit company registered in Guyana dedicated to the education and empowerment of vulnerable groups.  The Foundation is chaired by H. E. Sandra Granger, First Lady of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Vice-chair of the Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network (SCLAN).

Helpful links:

 The ANIRA Foundation

https://anirafoundation.com/

STEMGuyana

http://stemguyana.com/

 Global AIDS Update 2018

https://www.unaids.org/en/20180718_GR2018

WHO recommendations on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (2018)

https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/adolescent-srhr-who-recommendations/en/

Editor’s Notes

Background to “Pilots of the Caribbean”

The project will encompass HIV and Syphilis testing, treatment and prevention with social interventions to keep young girls in school.  It will also seek to foster economic development, end gender-based violence and link men and boys to health services.  The rapid diagnostic test kits, which will be utilized for testing, will be provided by the Ministry of Public Health and the Foundation.

The project will target 500 adolescents (100 males and 400 females) between the ages of 12 and 24.  Phase 1 will target the Sophia community, while Phases II and III will focus on vulnerable, mainly indigenous communities in Moruca, Region 1 (Barima-Waini) and Lethem, Region 9.  The Foundation will align the sensitisation and knowledge sharing with the educational needs and requirements of each community.

A new private clinic and a 16-year old local NGO have teamed up to make HIV prevention medication more available. Today, Midway Speciality Care Centre Guyana (MSCCG) and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD Guyana) signed a Memorandum of Understanding at a media launch of the clinical services to formalize their partnership in preventing new HIV infections in Guyana.

Midway Speciality Care Centre Guyana (MSCCG) is a not-for-profit clinic that is established to provide non-communicable and infectious disease care. Dr Moti Ramgopal MD, FACP, FIDSA, founded Midway Speciality Care Centre, which treats 6,000 patients in eight clinics in the United States of America. These clinics have provided a wide range of speciality and primary care services for patients. SASOD Guyana is a well-known human rights organisation that has been at the forefront of the HIV response in Guyana.

SASOD Guyana has been a long-time advocate for the introduction of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Services (PrEP) for all persons who are at risk. Midway Speciality Care Centres have acquired tremendous expertise in providing Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in the United States. After a series of intense deliberations between MSCCG and SASOD Guyana,  have agreed to introduce PrEP and non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) services at a weekday, full-service clinic located at 100 Carmichael Street (opposite Woodlands Hospital) and a satellite community clinic every Saturday at the SASOD Guyana office at 203 Duncan Street in Lamaha Gardens. The two agencies are convinced that with the introduction of these services that it would prevent those that are “substantial risk” from acquiring the HIV infection.

MSCCG and SASOD Guyana are providing PrEP and nPEP as part of combination prevention which includes condoms and lubes, STI screening and management, HIV testing and counselling, risk reduction management and harm reduction. The partners are also providing comprehensive support, consisting of adherence counselling, mental and emotional support, and sexual and reproductive health services. These services will be available to the from next week Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm,  starting on December 9. SASOD Guyana’s  Saturday clinic will commence on January 4, 2020. To make an appointment, interested persons can contact MSCCG by phone on 502-1951 or by email at MSCCG@gmail.com. SASOD Guyana can also be contacted by phone on 225-7283, 623-5155 or by email at sasod@sasod.org.gy. MSCCG’s Medical Doctor, Dr Ruth Ramos, and SASOD Guyana’s Managing Director signed the  Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of the media with MSCCG’s Nurse Lois Barrow witnessing the inking of the private sector – civil society agreement.

Media Contact
Joel Simpson
Managing Director
SASOD Guyana
Phone: 225-7283 or 623-5155
Email: manager@sasod.org.gy

Mr Tyrone Ellis, Chair of the Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+), was recently awarded by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Jamaica for being of “High Individual Value” in the response to HIV and AIDS in Jamaica.

The award was presented to Tyrone by the Ministry of Health and Wellness in November 2019 for his outstanding contribution to Jamaica’s national HIV response. PANCAP congratulates Tyrone on this significant achievement.

The Chair recently spoke with the Editor of the PANCAP Newsletter on new plans for CRN+. “As Chairman of CRN+, my vision is to work towards providing support and advocacy services for People Living with and affected by HIV in the Caribbean Community,” stated the Chair.  He also plans to enhance the promotion of broader sexual health objectives through education, training and health promotion.

Tyrone further stated that he intends to increase public awareness and understanding around HIV and AIDS and to reduce stigma and discrimination, which will improve the quality of life for People Living with HIV.

By Dr Nastassia Rambarran and Joel Simpson, SASOD Guyana

SASOD Guyana was the local study partner for the Guyana Key Populations Viral Load Assessment.  Funding for this project was provided by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Fund to Fight Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria with technical support from MEASURE Evaluation in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health’s National AIDS Programme Secretariat.

SASOD Guyana’s Public Health Consultant, Dr Nastassia Rambarran, and Managing Director, Joel Simpson led the fieldwork. The study surveyed 1082 Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV) who attended five care and treatment centres in Georgetown and collected blood for viral load (VL) testing in a subset of those surveyed. The enumerators were recruited from the staff of the five sites and were trained by the SASOD Guyana and MEASURE Evaluation research team.

The study showed that PLHIV reported almost no difficulty in accessing health services and that key populations (KPs) face elevated health, social and economic risks. For example, KPs in HIV treatment tended to be younger, more likely to be unemployed, engage in transactional sex and consume alcohol and illegal substances more than non-KP respondents.

In general, some PLHIV on treatment still engage in risky behaviour. It found that 19% of all clients did not use a condom at last vaginal sex, and 24% did not use a condom at last anal sex. This highlights the need for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among couples who do not have the same HIV status.

Among those who engaged in transactional sex, only 55% had used a condom at the last paid sex. The study also showed that the HIV information system in Guyana has incomplete information on VL testing and results with health facilities not meeting VL testing targets and therefore not being able to provide optimal HIV services to their clients. The data from the study could, however, be used by implementers to fill those gaps at the programmatic level and to estimate the viral suppression in Guyana with more accuracy.

To read the complete study on PANCAP.org click here.

The UNDP Caribbean Judges’ Forum on HIV, Human Rights and the Law created awareness of the need for members of the judiciary to look at cases and persons accessing justice through different lenses to ensure equal access by all persons.

The Forum, which targeted judges, was convened on 5 – 6 November in Port-of-Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with the following objectives:

• To discuss the latest international and regional guidance on HIV, human rights and the law.
• To discuss the latest scientific, medical and epidemiological evidence pertaining to HIV prevention, treatment and care.
• To discuss judicial and legislative responses to HIV and related law at national, regional and international level.
• To review the social and structural factors that increase the vulnerability of People Living with HIV and key populations, including evidence on HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
• To share experiences and challenges in the protection of rights in the context of HIV.

There was a strong recognition among the judges that such fora provide an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between science and global developments in HIV and the application of laws. There was also increased awareness of the critical need for public health evidence, thus requiring public health practitioners to be proactive in sharing available data with the judiciary to enable them to increase access to justice to the most vulnerable.

The forum highlighted the need for emotionally intelligent judicial officers who can recognise the vulnerability of those seeking justice. It was agreed that the judiciary should be cognizant that people seeking justice are influenced by the behaviour of the judicial officers, clerks of the courts, bailiffs and other persons with whom they come into contact. It was underscored that people seeking justice should not be subjected to differentiated justice but should be recognized as persons with rights.

I was encouraged by the receptiveness of the judges to take into consideration the new developments in HIV when discussing legal case studies during the forum.

Several recommendations and commitments emanated from the forum, including:

• Magistrates should be invited to future fora given that the magistrate court is the first court of contact for people accessing justice.
• Convene a joint forum of judicial officers and senior police officers to create awareness among the police of the challenges people seeking justice encounter at the level of law enforcement officers.
• Continue and expand sensitivity training of police recruits and police officers by civil society organisations.
• PANCAP will encourage National AIDS Programme (NAP) Managers to liaise with the judiciary to provide up to date data as well as information on the global developments.
• PANCAP will share the contact list of NAP Managers and other national partners with the judiciary to enable judicial officers to obtain public health evidence.
• PANCAP will create a dedicated page on its website for the Judiciary and will include the judiciary in its Listserv.
• PANCAP will collaborate with UNDP and UNAIDS to synthesise information which will be placed on the Judiciary page.

I congratulate UNDP for convening this important forum and for a very thoughtful agenda that stimulated spirited discussion and increased the judges’ awareness of the needs of vulnerable people who access justice and the need for data and information on global developments to inform decisions.

25 November marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and kicks off 16 days of activism to stop gender-based violence (GBV). The Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation (CFPA) joins the rest of the world in calling for governments to take urgent action to ensure discriminatory laws and practices are reviewed, and to implement policies and mechanisms to enable women to access justice, support and provide the necessary tools to combat this horror that plagues their lives, families and the entire region.

Violence against women remains pervasive and far too often a fatal phenomenon across the Caribbean with severe consequences for women and children, and also negatively impacting men, some of whom commit suicide, after murdering their partners and /or their children. GBV has harmful effects on a child’s mental, emotional and physical health with long term impact, which can result in boys modelling the abusers’ behaviour and becoming perpetrators of GBV.

GBV is most commonly committed by an intimate partner or family member. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally 35% of women have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their life, typically by an intimate partner. As of December 2014, the total number of women who were murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean had increased to 1,906 cases (ECLAC) with 38% of the cases resulting from domestic violence (WHO).

GBV has serious health challenges for women, whose vulnerability can increase, losing their ability to control their reproductive health. Women who live in abusive situations often have less ability to negotiate the use of condoms or other contraceptives in order to protect themselves.  They become exposed to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and unwanted pregnancy.

A woman who has been raped carries the trauma of the violence and often has to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. With the exception of Barbados and Guyana, women in the English speaking Caribbean are further violated by restrictive laws and policies, which limit their reproductive choices and put them at severe health risks and high susceptibility to a never-ending cycle of violence.  A woman with an unwanted pregnancy, especially resulting from rape, usually has an urgent need to terminate her pregnancy, even if safe and legal abortion options are unavailable. In this situation, she is put at high risk for complications, including debilitating injuries and death.

The Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation, which is a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has a high priority on the right of a woman to choose and decide what to do with her body. Ending gender-based violence and reproductive injustices are key steps in transforming the lives of women and girls. Family Planning Associations across the region work to provide women, girls and also men and boys with quality rights-based services, counselling and education, including age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education.

Today, we join with women and girls who cry out from the terror of GBV and gender injustices, calling on our governments to accelerate actions towards the 2030 Agenda, with attentiveness to gender justice and equality goals that address critical issues affecting the lives of women and girls, such as gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, adolescent pregnancy, the feminization of poverty, including unpaid care work, and climate justice.

Women’s Rights and Youth Organisations need to be strengthened to take leadership in transforming the region’s unjust heteronormative and patriarchal social norms which police and stigmatize women’s sexuality, and prevent women and girls from seeking and accessing the information and services they need to protect themselves and live a healthy life.

The advancement of our societies will be quashed if we fail to ensure that women and girls are assured of a life free of violence, and are free to fully exercise their sexual and reproductive rights.

#stopgenderbasedviolence #standagainstrape

GENEVA – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved funding decisions for ambitious investments over the next three-year period to significantly increase impact against HIV, TB and malaria and to build resilient and sustainable systems for health.

At the Board’s 42^nd meeting, coming one month after a successful Sixth Replenishment that secured pledges of over US$14 billion for 2020-2022, Board members expressed appreciation for the collective efforts that led to such a strong mobilization of resources, calling it a compelling affirmation of commitment toward achieving greater social justice all over the world.

Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund, expressed determination to use the unprecedented level of resources to maximum effect, within a coordinated approach by partners to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3, good health and well-being, with a special focus on reaching the most vulnerable people so that no one is left behind in efforts to end epidemics.

“Donors have responded magnificently to our challenge to step up the fight,” said Sands. “We must now convert those funds into a step change in lives saved, a sharp acceleration in progress toward ending the epidemics, and turbocharged progress toward SDG3.”

Donald Kaberuka, Chair of the Board, underscored the importance of moving swiftly to escalate efforts toward ending epidemics within the next ten years. “Time goes by fast,” said Dr Kaberuka. “We have to extend and improve our work to make the greatest difference, and to deepen country ownership as a foundation for sustainability that includes greater domestic resource mobilization and fiscal space for health.”

Roslyn Morauta, Vice-Chair of the Board, stressed the need to remain focused on reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized with effective interventions. “We must keep sight of our mission,” said Lady Roslyn. “All our investments in health should have a relentless focus on value-for-money, outcomes and impact.”

The Board approved a decision that translates pledges made at the Replenishment Conference into funding for country allocations for the 2020-2022 period, as well as certain catalytic investments that can further enhance impact in priority areas. The Global Fund plans to finalize the allocation and inform countries in December 2019.

The Board also approved a decision to advance the development of wambo.org, an innovative online tool that gives in-country procurement teams the power to search, compare and purchase quality-assured products used by health programs. The Board’s decision allows wambo.org to be made available for non-Global Fund-financed orders by governments and nongovernment development organizations on a variety of products.

During Board discussions, several members highlighted the need to improve data quality, timeliness and granularity, an essential element in improving planning, decision-making and oversight of health programs.

Several Board members also welcomed plans announced by the Global Fund’s Executive Director to establish a Youth Council to facilitate greater engagement of young people in finding solutions, since people under 25 are disproportionately vulnerable.

Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, addressed the Board in a special discussion session on the SDG3 agenda, giving his personal reflections and insights from a rich career in global health. He stressed the importance of keeping a long-term view, of working collaboratively with partners, of embracing innovation faster.

“There are certain things that the Global Fund cannot lose,” he said, and then listed several, including a laser focus on measurable outcomes; prioritizing people-centred services, human rights and a commitment to social justice; and preserving a passion for saving lives.

“I love the language of SDG3: Good health and well-being,” he said. “It’s not just adding years to your life, but adding life to your years.”