Scotiabank, in collaboration with the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership (CBMP) will host Regional HIV Testing Day 2011 at Scotiabank branches in Guyana and in countries across the Caribbean.

“Scotiabank is pleased to partner with CBMP to help heighten public interest in HIV testing,” said Esau Shamshudin, Country Head (ag.) for Guyana. “Supporting the growing programme is part of our ongoing commitment to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in the communities where we work and live.”

Citizens from 19 countries across the Caribbean are invited to attend the free clinics to get tested for HIV. Select Scotiabank branches in 14 countries in the region are hosting the free clinics. The clinics in Guyana, will be held on Friday June 24 and Sunday June 26 at the following Scotiabank locations, where trained personnel from the Ministry of Health will be on site to conduct free testing clinics and provide counseling services for individuals who are tested.

* Carmichael Street – Friday June 24
* Robb Street – Friday June 24
* Bartica – Friday June 24
* New Amsterdam – Friday June 24
* Parika – Sunday June 26

“I congratulate Caribbean media for their committed coverage of this important HIV prevention initiative now in its 4th year,” said Dr. Allyson Leacock, Executive Director, Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS. “This unique collaboration, conceived by the CBMP with media mounting a month-long campaign; the exemplary support from the private-sector in Scotiabank offering its locations as some of the testing sites; and the delivery of the technical expertise of Voluntary Counselling and Testing by the public sector through Ministries and Departments of Health, mobilized by PANCAP, is a model of the power of partnership in the response to HIV in our region.”

Following the campaign’s continued success, 2011 marks the third year Scotiabank will host private and voluntary HIV testing sites for citizens across the Caribbean.

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), there are approximately 240,000 people in the Caribbean living with HIV and an estimated 12,000 people died of AIDS-related deaths in the Caribbean in 2009.

The 2011 Regional HIV Testing Day campaign officially launched in Kingston, Jamaica on May 27. Approximately 10,000 people from across the Caribbean are expected to be tested during this year’s campaign. There are 19 territories participating in Regional Testing Day, including: Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, BVI, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and USVI.

Regional Testing Day has expanded from its pilot programme three years ago. In 2008, the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership (CBMP) on HIV/AIDS and Scotiabank in collaboration with regional Ministries of Health piloted the Caribbean’s first Regional HIV Testing Day in Barbados. In 2010, more than 8,400 people from 16 countries across the Caribbean were tested for HIV at Scotiabank branches and other locations. This number was up from 2009, when approximately 5,000 people participated.