(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The quality of life for an estimated five hundred and fifty persons living with HIV/AIDS in the six OECS Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is expected to improve with the introduction of a comprehensive programme for care, treatment and support funded by the Government of Brazil.

The programme will be spearheaded by the CARICOM-led Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP). It will take effect following the signing of an Agreement between PANCAP and the Government of Brazil on Thursday 27 April at the Fourteenth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in St Kitts and Nevis.

CARICOM's Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development, Dr Edward Greene pointed out that the provision of antiretroviral drugs was an important component of the PANCAP-Brazil Agreement. He said that in order to sustain the programme the Agreement will also provide for PANCAP-Brazil technical exchange to integrate techniques such as voluntary counselling and testing into the national programmes.

Dr Greene explained that the six OECS Member States, which include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, were singled out as beneficiaries given their relatively small populace and the high cost associated with the supply anti retroviral drugs.

In noting that some countries in the Caribbean including Belize, Guyana and Haiti, Jamaica and Suriname as well as Cuba and the Dominican Republic were benefiting from the Global Fund awards, Dr Greene said the PANCAP-Brazil Agreement has “opened a new avenue for South-South cooperation”. He deemed the funding and cooperation agreement as a “gift and a boost” for the OECS.

Dr Greene alluded to a recent report published by the World Bank which identified eleven Caribbean countries among the top thirty countries worldwide to have recorded the highest number of persons living with HIV/AIDS.

As PANCAP continues to lead the Caribbean’s defense against HIV/AIDS, it is anticipated that its cooperation with Brazil will yield a reduction in the spread of the disease.