UNITED NATIONS, CMC - The United Nations General Assembly met on Monday to consider progress in the global struggle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries indicating that other “pressing” health challenges are threatening the region’s socio-economic development. Speaking on behalf of CARICOM, the Bahamas’ UN envoy, Eugene Glenwood Newry, identified these challenges as “persistent and significant declines in international development assistance and unfair restrictions on access to financial assistance”. The diplomat said that the region, which is second to sub-Saharan Africa in the prevalence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, infections has seen the “sharpest decline in new infections”.