TT Unit wins top award

The unit received the award on May 26 at the Caribbean Breakfast and Award ceremony held at Hilton Barbados Resort, Bridgetown, Barbados.

The award was presented to the unit’s deputy director, Dr Ayanna Sebro from LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance.

The NGO is an offspring of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/Aids which was launched in 2006.

In emailed responses posed to her by Newsday about HIV/ Aids testing in TT, Sebro said, “Over the past three years as an example, we have gone from 44 sites 2013 to 85 sites in 2016.” She added the population often makes use of the testing when available, saying, “During national outreach we normally aim to test at least 2500 people. In 2016 we tested 3,170 people.

There are some people who prefer to test during outreach as we often have testing on the promenades, in workplaces and other areas.” In a release yesterday, the unit said, “Dr Sebro attributes the unit’s success to the entire team. She says Regional Testing Day in the twin-island republic has taken on a life of its own due to the visioning of previous and present team members, ‘the passion of the testing teams is the biggest asset of our testing activity. The teams drive the routine and outreach testing.

Over the years many teams have their list of testing sites for regional testing day before we even ask.” Stating that testing was only one part, Sebro said, everyone had a role to play in the fight against HIV/ Aids.

She said, “Testing is only one part of prevention.

The Ministry of Health has a goal to ensure to everyone has access to HIV and AIDS testing. We also aim to diagnose at least ninety percent of those who are infected and get them into care early. There is still much to be done and everyone has their part to play.” At the ceremony LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance presented awards to 21 individuals and 12 organizations as part of its continued promotion of its unique media brand, addressing HIV and issues of human rights and social justice in the Caribbean. Awardees came from St Lucia, Jamaica Belize, Haiti, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts-Nevis, Dominica and the British Virgin Islands.

“The 10 anniversary Regional Testing Day will be on June 30 and is preceded by a one month campaign (launched on May 26) to raise public awareness,” the release said.

It added, “The target for the RTD 10 anniversary in 2017 is a total of one hundred thousand (100,000) people in the Caribbean tested over 10 years of RTD.

In 2016, over twenty thousand (20,000) people were tested in 20 countries.” Questioned on comments made by United Nations Special Envoy on HIV to the Caribbean, Dr Edward Greene on June 4, who said HIV/ Aids infections were on the increase in the region among older groups, Sebro said, “Every country is different and several factors can contribute to a decrease in death and new cases... Caricom made a decision to ensure that people in the Caribbean have free access to anti-retroviral medication.

We must as a region continue to find ways to ensure funding to our regional programmes to maintain the gains that we have seen over the past few years.

In addition to this, comprehensive prevention that addresses HIV/STI & Sexual and Reproductive health programming with a strong psycho-social component will also see a decrease in that amount of HIV and STI cases seen.”