(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) will hold two meetings related to its governance and operations from 25 to 26 April 2012, in Saint Lucia. These meetings are the Eighteenth Meeting of the Executive Board and Second Meeting of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism for Global Fund Projects (RCMGFP). These meetings precede the Sixteenth Special Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) – Health which will be held on 27 and 28, also in Saint Lucia.

Under the chairmanship of its current Chair, Hon. Dr. Florence Duperval Guillaume, Minister of Health, Haiti, the Executive Board which has responsibility for providing policy guidance on the effective management and operation of the Partnership, will review the issues and recommendations in several Board Papers, particularly as they relate to the sustainability of the Partnership. Among them: a report on the sustainability of national HIV programmes and the institutional and fiscal responses required to address inherent challenges. The sustainability of the Secretariat of the Partnership also comes up for discussion and its Director, Ms. Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, in a report titled Achieving Results in an Environment of Scarcity: Challenges and Opportunities will put before the meeting the institutional and programmatic challenges requiring urgent redress.

High on the agenda of this Eighteenth Meeting also is a review of approaches to improving coordination within the Partnership. The meeting will receive recommendations for strengthening the coordination between the OECS sub-region and wider Caribbean region as well as improving the coordination between key regional and international agencies working in the area of HIV & AIDS stigma and discrimination.

The third meeting of the RCMGFP will receive several reports, including on key developments in the funding operations and management of the Global Fund. The meeting will be provided with an update on the status of implementation of the current Round 9 Grant as well as issues related to its continuing funding application.

The Eighteenth meeting begins with a brief official opening at on 9:00 a.m. at the Coco Palm Resort and will be chaired by PANCAP Coordinating Unit Director, Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland. Speakers include Hon. Alvina Reynolds, Minister of Health Saint Lucia, Hon. Dr. Florence Duperval Guillaume, Minister of Health, Haiti and Mr. Kerry Frank, Dean, CARICOM Youth Ambassador.

PANCAP is a regional Partnership which was established in February 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Its vision is to substantially reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean through sustainable systems of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

For more details contact: Volderine Hackett; vhackett@caricom.org