PANCAP stakeholders are being urged to work together for the common good of humanity.
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The Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) convened the Second joint regional dialogue with parliamentarians, faith leaders, and other stakeholders in Trinidad on Tuesday.
PANCAP is the mechanism that provides a structured and unified approach to the Caribbean’s response to the HIV epidemic.
Ian Ramdahin the acting Permanent Secretary in the Secretariat of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee, emphasized that as the 2020 juncture for reporting on how each country would have performed regarding the 2020 targets set by UNAIDS, assessing progress with responses to date in combatting HIV and AIDS is of paramount importance.
He noted this will highlight and influence the adjustments required, to chart the new roadmap for guiding the level of scale-up necessary for achieving the more significant target of “Ending AIDS by 2030.”
The permanent secretary warned that if key populations vulnerable to HIV are allowed to go unchecked, untreated and unsupported in any country, then society as a whole will ultimately suffer.
He stated that the region recognizes that HIV and AIDS are a critical development problem which affects the quality of life, labour, families, communities and the national economy – in the present and future.
He challenged participants to take a deep insightful look at the PANCAP’s Justice-For-All programme, which encompasses the adoption of the CARICOM Model Anti-Discrimination Legislation 2012; give due consideration to recommendations that will improve the mechanisms for enhanced inter-regional collaboration within CARICOM member States; and take into consideration the targets established by the United Nations High-Level Meeting Political Declaration June 2016 on ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
He further stated that the future goal of ending AIDS by 2030 is achievable and will only be sustained through the collective efforts of Parliamentarians, Faith Leaders, Civil Society Leaders, Youth and National AIDS Programme (NAP) Managers working in harmony.
