SALUTATIONS
I bring you greetings on behalf of my Chairman, Dr Yitades Gebre who could not be here today at this important meeting and sends his regrets.
The Third Annual General Meeting of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) was held in Georgetown, Guyana on 12-13 November 2003, under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Health, Republic of Guyana, assisted by Deputy Chairperson, H.E. Ms. Dolores Balderamas Garcia, Ambassador/Chairperson National AIDS Commission, Belize.
OPENING CEREMONY
The Opening Ceremony was chaired by Dr. Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.
Dear Participants of the Third Annual PANCAP Meeting,
First of all, I wish to express my best wishes and solidarity with you in your continuing leadership in the response to AIDS. I am sorry not to be able to be with you in person.
It is indeed an honour for me to Chair this opening session and PANCAP III and even moreso a pleasure to extend greetings to you all on behalf of the Secretary General and staff of the CARICOM Secretariat and the PANCAP Coordinating Unit.
Permit me to take this opportunity to make some general remarks as well as to update this gathering on the progress of PANCAP and so indications for the future.
The Context of PANCAP: Creating Global Partnerships for development
I send you all very fond greetings and best wishes on the occasion of the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS. PANCAP as it is affectionately known, is a very special mechanism endorsed by the Heads of Government of CARICOM as a pillar of the Nassau Declaration which emphasised that the “health of the region is the wealth of the Region".
The Second Regional Training Workshop for National Assessments on HIV/AIDS, Law, Ethics and Human Rights takes place on 7-11 November 2003 in Georgetown, Guyana.
Eight CARICOM proposals were approved by the Board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) at its Sixth Meeting, which runs from 15-17 October 2003, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The successful proposals are from Guyana and Haiti, two each; Belize, Jamaica, the OECS and the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), one proposal each.
The Region has been asked to eradicate the stigma attached to the HIV/AIDS virus, in order to create a more supporting environment for persons infected with the disease and furthermore to encourage the general public to get tested.
At the just concluded second annual meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership (PANCAP) for HIV/AIDS, held this week, in Georgetown, Guyana, members noted that HIV/AIDS discrimination was the single most devastating factor contributing to the social isolation of victims and thus increasing the spread of the epidemic.