UN Rep: US$10B needed to halt Caribbean AIDS epidemic

The United Nations Resident Representative has said a total of US$10 billion is needed by 2005 to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean region.

Dr Inyang Ebong-Harstrup said the least expensive brand name medication recommended by WHO for developing countries was approximately US$675 per person annually, and the least expensive generic drugs combination was under US$300 annually for each person. Figures from UNAIDS indicate that at the end of 2003, between 350,000 and 590,000 people in the Caribbean are living with HIV/AIDS, there were between 45,000 — 80,000 new infections and between 30,000-50,000 deaths. UNAIDS gave ranges because the actual number of infections and deaths are still unknown.

At a media briefing held Wednesday at United Nations Information Centre at Victoria Avenue to present the AIDS epidemic update for 2003, Dr Ebong-Harstrup called for more people to take a leadership role in speaking out and tearing down the walls of silence, stigma and discrimination. “No progress will be made by being timid, refusing to face unpleasant facts, prejudging fellow human beings, and still less stigmatising people with HIV/AIDS,” Ebong-Harstrup said. Referring to the generic findings of the report, she said the disease has severe social and economic repercussions. If countries do not put sufficient investment into prevention and treatment, the long-term consequences will be devastating. Ebong-Harstrup said HIV/AIDS created a serious obstacle to development as it is striking young adults as they are poised to enter their most productive years, robbing children of their parents or forcing them to drop out of school, “thereby leaving a generation without care or education.” It has also left 14 million children orphaned for 2003. The UNAIDS epidemic update for Latin America and the Caribbean reports stated the disease is “well entrenched” in the region, with a prevalence of at least one percent in 12 countries. It said the most recent estimates show HIV prevalence in pregnant women exceeding two percent in six territories: TT, Bahamas, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Haiti.

The report said all of the main modes of transmission co-exist in most countries amid significant levels of risky behaviour — such as early sexual debut, unprotected sex with multiple partners and the use of unclean drug injecting equipment. Appro-ximately 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 37 million of them are adults and 2.5 million are children under 15 years. There were five million new infections for this year with 4.2 million being adults. Three million people died of AIDS this year  — 2.5 million adults and 500,000 children. Technical director on the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee, Dr Amery Browne, underscored that HIV/AIDS is not about figures but human beings with dreams and hopes. He said the country “can do better” and admonished parents that HIV will come home; it was up to them if HIV came in the form of information or infection. Dr Browne said the epidemic is now generalised with 64 percent of new infections among heterosexuals. He stressed the importance of all sectors of society becoming involved in the response to the disease. Dr Browne also gave the assurance that with the establishment of the Co-ordinating Committee to oversee the implementation of the national plan, there will be no more talk and the absence of real results, and no more of the silence that allows stigma and discrimination to flourish.