GUYANA’S record achievements in the fight against HIV/AIDS and concerns about curtailed donor funding were the highlights of discussions when UNAIDS Director of Caribbean Regional Support Team Ernest Messiah met President Donald Ramotar yesterday.
The two met at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) in the company of Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran and Director of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat Dr. Shanti Singh, as President Ramotar was wrapping up discussions with Guyana’s foreign missions.
The meeting follows Guyana’s success story in the drastic reduction in cases of Mother-To Child Transmission which is credited to the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme.
The country’s ranking in over 50 countries that have achieved a 25 percent reduction in HIV prevalence in the last 10 years, also adds to the story.
“There are some successes here that we need to really celebrate,” Messiah said in an invited comment to the Government Information Agency (GINA) after what he described as a good meeting with the President.
“He (President Ramotar) is very clear about what should be done and how to move forward in securing the successes you have had don’t actually change and move back,” Messiah said.
Optimism was high that the prospect of collaboration between UNAIDS and Guyana looks bright even as Messiah expressed concern about the “huge” decline in donor funding around the world.
The cutback in funding has been largely attributed to the global financial crisis which has caused a number of countries to prioritise and in so doing, alter the scale and flow level of resources that they had been making in the past.
The challenges ahead, Messiah explained, also include critical questions about sexual lifestyles, particularly among the youth population, the group that is considered the most vulnerable.