An activist holds a red ribbon, the symbol of AIDS awareness, during a march marking World AIDS Day in Saint Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. Haiti, a nation of 9 million, remains the most affected by HIV in the Caribbean, itself the region with the highest infection rate outside Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Caribbean countries need to step up its vigilance on HIV/AIDS and re-examine its laws that criminalize prostitution and homosexuality, according to a new report released by UNAIDS.
The report, titled "AIDS at 30: Nations At The Crossroads," notes that with a 1 percent prevalence rate, the Caribbean has the highest infection rate in the world after sub-Sahara Africa. The most recent data show that prevalence is highest among men who have sex with men and sex workers. In Jamaica, 33 percent of MSM are living with HIV. In Suriname, 24 percent of female sex workers are infected with HIV.
"With many Caribbean countries criminalizing sex work and sex between men, universal access will be impossible unless those laws change," the report concludes.
It mentions that at the recent Regional Consultation on Universal Access in Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean leaders agreed that those laws had to be repealed and revised. They also called for a Pan-Caribbean Human Rights Charter to guarantee the right to health for all, seen as a united front against legalized discrimination.
Summit
The UN publication that was issued on June 3 came ahead of the High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, which took place June 8-10 at the United Nations in New York. The 2011 summit was a follow up to the historic Special Session on HIV/AIDS at the UN in 2001.
In New York, world leaders, medical professionals and nongovernmental organizations assessed the successes and failures over the past three decades and formulated new plans for a future envisioned with zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
"It has been 30 years since the first reported cases, 15 years since treatment became a reality, 10 years since the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS and five years since our commitment to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support," says UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé in the report.
He argues that to break the arc of the disease countries can no longer adopt a "business as usual" approach.
Mixed Reviews
The UN document also offers mixed reviews for the AIDS epidemic in the region. It mentions that there was a 14 percent reduction in HIV incidence between 2001 and 2009 with four countries reducing new HIV infections by 25 percent.
Over that same period there was also greater access to treatment, which reduced AIDS-related deaths by 43 percent. However, 18,000 new infections took place in 2009, an average of 50 daily. Some 7,000 women needed treatment to prevent vertical transmission but only 4000 received it.
Most alarmingly, the report says, AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death among Caribbean people between the ages of 20 to 59.
The report notes that national contributions will need to increase as global development assistance diminishes. Over the past decade the Caribbean has received more than $1.8 billion in external funding. In 2009 external sources funded 64 percent of overall AIDS spending.
UNAIDS has developed a strategy for 2011-2015 to support countries in their efforts to combat the disease and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, all of which were under discussion at the three-day meeting at the UN.
