Caribbean will require US$300M each year to fight AIDS - UWI estimates Stabroek News February 8, 2001 The University of the West Indies (UWI) estimates that the entire Caribbean will require more than US$300 million annually to fight AIDS, a CARICOM official told Stabroek News. The official acknowledged that the pan Caribbean response had not yet been costed by governments at individual country levels. He said that what was needed immediately was a head-on fight against the disease, noting that waiting for an action plan to be developed in another two to three years was not feasible, something UWI also stressed. Programme Manager of Health Sector Development in the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr James St Catherine, in an interview this week, said originally governments in the Caribbean felt that US$34M would have been required per annum until UWI said that the figure would be much more initially. He said given that a plan of action might take two to three years to develop, because of the nature of AIDS, the CARICOM Secretariat had decided to act now while the funding was coming in. In December, the European Union donated over US$6 million in start-up funds towards institutional strengthening for fighting AIDS. Urging more donor support, Dr St Catherine explained that fighting AIDS had been made more difficult by the weakening of institutions over the years. He noted that the plan of action required will "have to be grounded at the grassroots". Guyana's case is "peculiar" and "particularly interesting to me," Dr St Catherine said, pointing out that the University of Guyana (UG)--which should be one of the leading agencies in delivering the plan of action--terribly "needs strengthening". UG did not have the capacity to train persons in the fight against HIV/AIDS, he observed, and moreover it needed to have links with UWI where this was concerned. He envisaged that the UWI will approach UG to determine its needs based on what the plan requested. Dr St Catherine expects to see collaboration as well between other universities in the Caribbean, for instance in Suriname, and UWI. "We are hoping for tangible benefits..." he stated. On the issue of political will, the CARICOM official said that had this vital ingredient been present 15 years ago, the situation would not have worsened to where it is, nor would the efforts required be as monumental. But it would have been difficult to sell the idea of fighting AIDS to the political directorate 15 years ago, Dr St Catherine remarked, adding that it would have required "rearranging" the society to do so. He also said that apart from the political will, the response then would have required the capability and strong institutions. Dr St Catherine also spoke of the need for the database and information systems in the region to be strengthened. He explained that for instance when HIV-infected persons were found, it was often too late because their illness would have progressed to a stage where hardly anything could be done. Last Thursday, the Caribbean Task Force on HIV/AIDS held its fifth encounter to decide on fine-tuning the responsibilities of the various institutions in the Caribbean. The framework, funded by the EU, is set to be completed by June. The agencies range from those in the health sector to those in education, along with interest groups. Because of their high rates of infection, Guyana, Suriname and Haiti are on the priority target list. Dr Omawali Omawali has been contracted by CARICOM for four months to assist in setting up project implementation units (PIUs) for the response programme. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today