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On Thursday, social activist Jason Jones won his case against the State in a ground-breaking decision which sets a legal precedent moving forward.

Justice Devindra Rampersad ruled that Sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act are “unconstitutional, illegal, null, void, invalid and are of no effect to the extent that these laws criminalize any acts constituting consensual sexual conduct between adults”.

The court will meet again to hear whether the offending sections should be struck down in their entirety along with the issue of costs.

Members of the LGBTQI+ community along with other human rights supporters tearfully expressed their happiness with the ruling.

Jones spoke after the ruling saying that the country must now come together.

“What I think the judge pointed out was ‘here every creed and race find an equal place’ and I think we must all come together now and embrace each other in true love and respect. This is not about LGBT, this is about the rights and freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and I hope that everyone walks away from this calmly and collectively,” he said.

Head of CAISO Colin Robertson said the matter has restored his faith in the justice system in Trinidad and Tobago.

“I am really humbled that I live in a nation that could deliver that judgement. I think it’s onto the Parliament to ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity are in the Equal Opportunities Act. It’s a tremendous day thanks to Jason for having the boldness to bring the case. I have incredible faith now in justice in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

Image (L-R: Dr Martin Oditt, UNAIDS Country Director, Dr Edward Greene PANCAP Advisor, Dr Hector Butts, Finance Secretary Ministry of Finance – Guyana and Mr Dereck Springer Director of PANCAP)

Thursday 5 April 2018, Georgetown Guyana: Sustainability of the Region’s HIV response continues to be a priority for the Partnership. Today, 5 April, Director of PANCAP Mr Dereck Springer met with Finance Secretary Dr Hector Butts at the Ministry of Finance (Guyana) to discuss sustainability and HIV domestic financing.

Mr Springer was accompanied by Dr Martin Oditt, UNAIDS Country Director and Dr Edward Greene, PANCAP Advisor.

World Health Day will be observed on 7 April 2018. 

Washington, D.C., April 4, 2018 (PAHO / WHO) — On the eve of World Health Day, the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, and former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet today called for collective actions to ensure that all people, everywhere have access to the health services they need.

In the Americas region, one-third of the population faces obstacles to accessing health. “Health is a right, and as such we must overcome barriers to have access to care,” said Etienne, noting that out-of-pocket payments that many people must make to obtain health services “constitutes the main barrier and pushes families towards poverty.”

Other barriers are geographic or institutional in nature, including stigma and discrimination in health services. “It is not enough to have hospitals and health centers, these institutions must have the right combination of human resources, infrastructure and equipment, medicines and other health technologies, to avoid long waiting times and offer quality care,” Etienne said.

Universal health, the theme of World Health Day 2018, implies that all people and communities have access, without discrimination, to quality health services without having to expose themselves to financial difficulties. Under the slogan “Universal Health: Everyone, Everywhere,” the campaign calls on representatives of governments, academia and civil society to stimulate dialogue on policies that can help achieve health for all by 2030.

“We need a massive regional movement and listen to all voices” to move towards universal health, Etienne said. Last year, PAHO created the High-Level Commission on “Universal Health in the 21st Century: 40 Years of Alma-Ata,” led by Michelle Bachelet.
To achieve universal health, “we have to build national consensus because the challenges are of such magnitude that they require the commitment and effort of all,” said Bachelet.
Forty years after the Declaration of Alma-Ata—which promoted the values of the right to health, equity and solidarity—the region of the Americas continues to be one of the most inequitable in the world.

Bachelet noted that there have been important advances since Alma-Ata, but that there are still major gaps between and within the countries. “At the same time that we see health centers with quality we could not have imagined in the past, there are still women and children who continue to die from totally avoidable causes,” she said, adding that “inequality is the great enemy in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Bachelet said that PAHO’s regional strategy for universal health along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the sustainable health agenda for the Americas infuse new life into the path toward “health for all” outlined at Alma-Ata. She urged greater emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, reducing segmentation and fragmentation in health services, safeguarding the working conditions of health personnel, including new technologies and innovation, and for building health financing systems that promote solidarity.

“In this matter there are neither miracles nor shortcuts, what there is a long road of collective work that leads to more justice for all,” said Bachelet.

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Helpful links:

World Health Day: www.paho.org/whd

Live stream of the conference: https://livestream.com/pahotv/WHD2018

Campaign materials: www.paho.org/world-health-day/?page_id=820

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGr1l-DQK4Y

Image: Dr Cleophas D’Auvergne, Project Coordinator for the OECS, HIV/TB Elimination Grant

HIV data collection for key populations in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), remains a challenge despite the many successes of the OECS HIV/TB Elimination Project, it has been revealed.

Project Coordinator for the OECS, HIV/TB Elimination Grant, Doctor Cleophas D’Auvergne, has disclosed that this is especially true of men who have sex with men with regard to HIV testing and outreach for them.

‘Programme integration and coordination between HIV and TB programmes. And for TB, it’s scaling up TB case detection in high risk populations especially migrant populations, the homeless, substance abusers as well. So it’s really a constant process,’ D’Auvergne explained.

“We’re trying to ascertain the gaps we see now in the current grant so that we can use those gaps and actually try to incorporate synergies towards facilitating an improved continuation of the grant in the future for 2019 to 2022,” he told the Communications Unit of Saint Lucia’s the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

In 2015 the OECS Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) was awarded a grant of US $5.2 million by the Global Fund, towards the elimination of HIV and TB in the OECS.

With grant funding coming to an end in 2019, the RCM has been invited by the Global Fund to prepare another 3 year grant spanning 2019 – 2022 to facilitate the continuation of services under the current grant.

Despite the challenge of date collection, Doctor Cleophas D’Auvergne noted that among the successes of the project are workshops on combination prevention, a minimum package of services for sexual and reproductive health, human rights and legal literacy training, the sustained procurement of ARVs, condoms and lubricants for key populations and the production of educational manuals.

“HIV and Syphilis train the trainer” workshops are also among the achievements highlighted for greater penetration of key populations.

“In terms of the TB elimination we’ve been able to have the country assessments. PAHO has been very instrumental in conducting the national TB country assessments. We’ve been able to develop a draft OECS strategy as well as countries have been able to develop their national country elimination plans.”

He said clinical guidelines for HIV/TB and STIs have also been developed and updated.

‘With regard to surveillance, we’ve had a major success in terms of conducting the population size estimate studies we’ve been trying to do for a number of years now. At least 10 years and we’re finally able to have this completed. We’re now in the data analysis and validation phase, as well as we’ve developed our HIV Clinical Management Module which will be used to actually strengthen the validation process for mother to child transmission of HIV and strengthen TB elimination in the future,’ D’Auvergne observed.

Four times more Jamaican women than men in the 15 to 19 age group have been reported with AIDS, according to a 2015 epidemiology report.

Against this backdrop, the new Consolidated guideline on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV was introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) to the Jamaican multisectoral HIV response group at a three-day workshop in Kingston last Tuesday.

The WHO Consolidated guideline includes guiding principles to a ‘woman-centered’ approach and creating an enabling environment for women and girls living with HIV. It also includes global best practices and recommendations for the implementation of a strategic plan to integrate sexual and reproductive health rights and HIV services, maternal health services, counseling, and community empowerment.

Person-Centred Approach

“We are taking a new approach to reaching more persons that is person-centered and over a life course,” disclosed Dr Manjulaa Nalasimhan, representative of WHO Geneva. “A person-centered approach acknowledges women as active agents, not passive agents, of accessing sexual and reproductive health services and rights,” she added.

According to the National Family Planning Board, socio-economic, cultural, and behavioural factors have made young women and girls three times more likely to contract HIV than boys of the same age group. Although Jamaica has been reaching many of these persons and providing treatment and care, some females are hard to reach. Therefore, the new WHO guidelines will specifically target the female population.

“At a time when women’s rights are just now being acknowledged globally, this workshop is appropriately timed. Our girls are being raised in a society that dictates their sexual and reproductive health outcomes,” said Lovette Byfield, executive director of the National Family Planning Board,

According to the WHO, in 2015, there were an estimated 17.8 million women aged 15 and older living with HIV.

GENEVA – The Global Fund today suspended its partnership with Heineken based on recent reports of the company’s use of female beer promoters in ways that expose them to sexual exploitation and health risks.

“We take these allegations very seriously and have challenged Heineken to examine their operations and make changes to protect women from sexual exploitation and health risks,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “We are suspending the partnership until such time as Heineken can take appropriate action to address these issues.”

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The Global Fund is a 21st-century partnership designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics. As a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases, the Global Fund mobilizes and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in more than 100 countries. By challenging barriers and embracing innovative approaches, we are working together to better serve people affected by the diseases. 

The PANCAP Knowledge for Health Project conducted an HIV information session with approximately 40 students of the Centre for Communication Studies, University of Guyana.

Dr Shanti Singh-Anthony, Knowledge Coordinator exposed participants to knowledge on the basics of HIV and AIDS, the global and regional HIV epidemiology, HIV diagnosis, disease progression and management and current concepts and frameworks such as the 90-90-90 Targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Target for ending AIDS.

Mr Timothy Austin, Communications Specialist, PANCAP Coordinating Unit provided illustrations of  PANCAP’s use of an integrated marketing and communications strategy to effectively share relevant knowledge and information on the region’s response to HIV and AIDS with a wide range of stakeholders.

Participants were also provided with an illustration of the PANCAP Digital Strategy for website content creation and management of PANCAP’s online platforms.

In an effort to increase awareness of HIV and AIDS, The National AIDS Commission (Belize) collaborated with the Ministry of Labour to provide a two-day workshop to key Labour Officers at the Best Western Biltmore on 15-16 March 2018. The training explored a variety of topics pertinent to HIV prevention and the effects of HIV-related workplace stigma and discrimination.

A total of 22 key Labour Department managers and administrators were present at the two-day workshop. Facilitators of the HIV training included Mr. Arthur Usher, Communication Officer of the National AIDS Commission, Mr. Keron Cacho, Programme Coordinator of the National AIDS Commission, Mr. Antonio Coyoc and Jevan Chavarria of Ministry of Health, Mrs. Eva Burgos of Go Belize, Ms. Derricia Salazar of Our Circle and Ms Dominique Noralez from The National Youth Council of Belize.

Facilitators presented on Belize’s HIV Statistics, the Belize Health and Information System, the concerns and issues surrounding Key Affected Populations in Belize and addressed the many ways in which the Ministry of Labour can assist in alleviating stigma and discrimination.

Facilitators also informed participants of Belize’s commitments to various international Human Rights and HIV service provision targets.

The NAC continues to maintain a dynamic and multi-sectoral approach to the HIV response in Belize.