8261: AIDS and Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <dgcraig@att.net>

                     US anti-AIDS programme for Caribbean, Latin America
to be
                     expanded
                     BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jun 8,
2001

                     Text of report by Caribbean news agency Cana

                     Washington, 8 June: An AIDS programme to help
combat the epidemic in
                     Latin America and the Caribbean will be expanded
through a joint effort of
                     the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the
Caribbean Epidemiology
                     Centre (Carec).

                     Word of this came from Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary
of the US
                     Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and
Dr George Alleyne,
                     Director of the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO).

                     They announced after a meeting [on] Thursday [7
June] that CDC will
                     expand its Global AIDS programme to address the
HIV/AIDS epidemic in
                     the Caribbean and Latin America, and will assist
Carec with its
                     HIV-prevention efforts throughout the Caribbean.

                     "In the Caribbean, where HIV rates are the highest
in the world outside
                     Africa, we are committed to reducing HIV
transmission through prevention,"
                     said Thompson. "We also will work to improve care
and treatment of people
                     living with HIV/AIDS and related infections."

                     The AIDS epidemic, according to Dr Alleyne, "has
reached alarming
                     proportions. In the region of the Americas, one in
every 200 persons
                     between 15 and 49 years of age is HIV-infected. In
the Caribbean, one in
                     every 50 people has the infection, and we must
intensify our fight against
                     this deadly threat to health and development.
Combating the epidemic in
                     the region requires focusing on prevention and
treatment, and maintaining
                     the dignity of people already infected and living
with HIV/AIDS, as well as
                     improving their access to quality, humane care and
treatment."

                     In June 2001, CDC will initiate technical
assistance to Carec, which will
                     help improve the health status of Caribbean
countries by supporting HIV
                     prevention and care and treatment programmes for
people living with
                     HIV/AIDS.

                     This is not the first joint partnership between CDC
and Carec. In 1996,
                     Carec established the Caribbean AIDS
Telecommunications and Information
                     Network with support from CDC. The network helps to
increase awareness
                     on how to prevent the transmission of sexually
transmitted diseases,
                     including HIV.

                     CDC is committed to supporting those countries most
in need in the
                     Caribbean and Latin America, where more than 50,000
people died from
                     AIDS last year. CDC representatives will begin
working directly with public
                     health officials from Brazil, Guyana and Haiti,
where more than
                     three-quarters of a million people were living with
HIV/AIDS in 1999.

                     Source: Cana news agency, Bridgetown, in English
1858 gmt 8 Jun 01

                     /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.

                     World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright