CARICOM Secretary General wants funding gaps filled, to achieve UNAIDS goal to end AIDS by 2030

Photo Credit: CARICOM Caribbean Community

​As the World commemorates World AIDS Day under the theme ‘Hands up for #HIV Prevention’, CARICOM stands in solidarity with the 78 million people who have become infected with HIV and remember the 35 million who have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the first cases of HIV were reported.
 
A statement released by Secretary General CARICOM Ambassador Irwin Larocque says, this Theme calls attention to the crucial need for us to refocus our efforts on combination prevention that includes treatment, behaviour change, communication, and provision of social protection to address individuals’ vulnerability.
 
While the Caribbean Region continues to see increased numbers of persons being placed on treatment, 52 percent in 2016 compared to less than 5 percent in 2001, the recent 2015 UNAIDS Prevention Report highlights an increase in new infection in the Caribbean. 
 
Larocque says, it is a matter of urgency, that remaining gaps in funding to assist in ending the AIDS epidemic in the Region are filled, as the world seeks to achieve the UNAIDS goal of ending AIDS by 2030.