Prime Minister of St Kitts/Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas has disclosed that the Pan Caribbean Partnership has successfully negotiated with the pharmaceutical companies for a discount within the region of 85% to 90% on the cost of drugs to assist in the management of patients living with HIV and AIDS.
Douglas made this disclosure at a press conference following the CARICOM Heads of Government at Le Meridien Pegasus here last week, after which he left for the World AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain. While there Douglas is to sign an agreement of principles with a number of pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the partnership, which would allow a significant discount on the cost of drugs which are going to be necessary to fight the disease.
Dr Douglas, who is also the Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States with portfolio within the CARICOM arrangement for health and human services, further disclosed that the regional application to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria had been successfully submitted. Guyana along with Haiti and CARICOM had applied to the fund earlier this year, but while Haiti’s was approved the two other applications were turned down. Haiti is the country most affected by the disease in the region while Guyana is said to be second.
"In fact I want to emphasise that we have successfully so far put together the first regional plan to obtain assistance from this global fund," Douglas said.
Further, come September in Barbados the final round of discussions will be convened, and the Prime Minister said it was hoped that the region would receive the necessary assistance from the fund. Some US$50 million to $60 million will be available.
Asked about how the money would be distributed, the Prime Minister said that had not yet been decided on, as it depended on what specific project had been identified and approved in each of the member territories. "I can say to you that at the moment each country of the community has been encouraged to put in place a national strategic plan which is part of the regional strategic plan that we are putting together," he said.
He said each country should have completed situational analyses by now, detailing the extent of the disease and involvement of partners within the community, apart from the ministries of health. "We are insisting that this now has to be a multi sectoral approach in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said.
Further, there are other specific projects that will need funding, one of which is building capacity to handle the money that is being afforded the region. "We have to make sure that there is proper accounting procedures that are being put in place. Proper auditing facilities have to be there. The labs have to be upgraded so that we would be able to follow the patient on a long-term basis ... to continue monitoring the viral load as the treatment continues over the period of time."
According to the Prime Minister they also have to make sure that there is a common understanding between airlines and governments to transport the samples that must move from one country to the next since all of the territories will not have labs.
The Prime Minister recalled that it was in Barbados, some 18 months ago in February, 2001, that the countries of the region signed the Pan Caribbean Partnership in the fight against the deadly disease. He said that since they have been focusing mainly on accelerated access to care and treatment of people who are living with HIV/AIDS.
"The Pan Caribbean Partnership comprises really the core group of donors, especially those additional donors who have assisted us here in the Caribbean region over the years. And also it consists of national AIDS programmes, civil society, the private sector and generally... all coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat," Douglas explained.
Further, he said what the partnership had done was to create a model that has been recognised for the engagement of other entities on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
He said that though the regional negotiation has finally come to an end there have been several countries that have been independently negotiating with drug companies including, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and the Bahamas.
Douglas said the Heads have had quite a bit of assistance in putting together their negotiating team from Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNAIDS. "Of course I must not forget the significant role that the CARICOM Secretariat itself has played together with the ministers of health from around the Caribbean," he said.
He said the agreement he was to sign was not only in terms of anti-retroviral drugs, but the drug companies will also be working with the region to build capacity in order to help manage patients not only in terms of treatment but generally.
The prime minister said that it was hoped that having access to the global fund would allow for standardisation of what was happening in the region, and not just in the community region but also in the extra community region. He said would ensure that what was happening in the Caribbean was a standardised acceptable approach to the management of the patient living with HIV/AIDS.
Questioned about the free movement of people of living with the disease in the region, Douglas said that at the moment that concern was not significant enough to prevent them from attempting to achieve what they believe the region needs for its own development and that was free movement of people and capital. "Yes we are concerned that as people move from one territory to the next, and if people continue to practice lifestyles that can endanger their own health, these problems will arise," he said.
He added that the whole idea of ensuring that there was a regional approach to the developmental issue of HIV/AIDS was to also ensure that the language in the education modules in one country would be common to other countries. This would ensure that even though someone is moving from one part of the community to the next it would not really interfere with treatment modules, management and education and important information sharing that was being given in one part of the community against the other.