#5095: CANA : HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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Date: (No, or invalid, date.)
From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>
To: Robert Corbett <Corbetre@Webster.Edu>
Subject: CANA : HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean

Major HIV/AIDS conference opens in Barbados

Bridgetown, Barbados, CANA - A Caribbean Conference
on HIV/AIDS began in Barbados on Monday, with calls
for governments to offer more support and funding to
help combat the killer epidemic, which is threatening
to derail the region's social and economic development.

The calls came against the backdrop of startling statistics
showing that in terms of HIV prevalence, the Caribbean is
second only to sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately two
per cent of the regional population or more than 500,000
people infected with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS (*).
And of the 12 countries with the highest HIV prevalance,
nine of them are in the Caribbean/Americas region.

They are the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad
and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Bahamas, Barbados and
Belize.

David de Ferranti, the World's Bank vice president for
Latin America and the Caribbean, told delegates at the
opening ceremony that while HIV/AIDS was a global
problem, the Caribbean was facing a much greater
challenge in combating the epidemic because of its
limited financial resources.

He said the disease was posing not only a threat to the
health sector, but other economic sectors since the
majority of people living with HIV/AIDS are in their
productive years, 15-44.

N.B. In Haiti, seroprevalence is estimated to be at 3%
of the population. This translates into 240,000 people
infected by the virus. Max J. Blanchet