Guyana to host PANCAP meetings

Among issues to be discussed by the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) are the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis.

According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Guyana has been recognized as having one of the most successful Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs and is one of three countries being pitched on the Global Website to raise funds for the general funding for PMTCT.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently released a new set of guidelines for the treatment of Syphilis and two other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) since the infections, which are generally curable with antibiotics, are becoming more difficult to treat, with some antibiotics now failing as a result of misuse and overuse.

PANCAP will convene the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the Executive Board and the Twelfth Meeting of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism for Global Fund Projects on September 7-8, 2016 at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Guyana.

Senator the Honourable Mary Isaac, Minister for Health and Wellness of Saint Lucia will chair these meetings. The Chair will be supported by Dr. Donald Simeon, Deputy Chair and Mr. Dereck Springer, Director of the PANCAP Coordinating Unit.

According to CARICOM, “the Executive Board will discuss how to sustain PANCAP within an environment of declining resources, receive and discuss updates on: Opportunities and Challenges for Treatment and Care for All; Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission and Congenital Syphilis; Status of the Zero Discrimination targets; New projects – Local Capacity Initiative and Knowledge for Health, Financial Report; and CARICOM Youth Ambassadors’ Report.”

This meeting will also receive a report from the Priority Areas Coordinating Committee, the technical body of the Executive Board, and discuss and agree on policy recommendations that will be presented to the Thirtieth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) – Health, which will be convened on September, 23-25, 2016 in Washington D.C.

The meeting of the Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) for the Global Fund Projects will receive updates on: Global Fund Board’s approval of the PANCAP and CVC-COIN grants; the RCM Restructuring to ensure compliance with the new Global Fund RCM Requirements; Proposal for co-location of the independent RCM Secretariat with a civil society organisation. The RCM will also review and endorse the revised governance documents.

Participants will include representatives from eight national governments, civil society organisations leaders of key population groups, regional agencies, CARICOM Youth Ambassadors, faith-based organisations, private sector and development partners.

PANCAP provides a structured and unified approach to the Caribbean’s response to the HIV epidemic, coordinates the response through the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS to maximise efficient use of resources and increase impact, mobilises resources and builds capacity of its partners.