The Caribbean Community joins the rest of the world in observing World AIDS Day 2017 and Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque said through its specialised agency, the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), the Community has been directly engaged with issues relating to this disease since 2001.

He said the importance of a healthy population was underscored by Heads of Government when in the Nassau Declaration of that same year, they asserted that the “Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region”. In preserving that wealth, we must be prepared to engage with any threat that diminishes it.

In that regard, the Region has made significant strides in its efforts to reduce the incidence of HIV and AIDS. For example today six new countries will be certified as having achieved the target for elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis. That is just the latest evidence that the goals are attainable particularly with the requisite support from our international partners.

“Unfortunately, the Caribbean remains one of the most affected regions with serious concern about the increasing prevalence among our youth. It is crucial, therefore for us to maintain and increase our efforts if we are to reverse that trend and preserve the gains that we have made,” LaRocque said in his message to mark the occasion.

He said the ongoing collaboration between PANCAP and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is a key element as we seek to fulfil the goal of expanding access to quality treatment, care and support of people living with HIV and Aids. To make this year’s observance of World Aids Day meaningful, let us commit ourselves today to the vision of an AIDS-Free Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Michel Sidibé Executive Director of UNAIDS Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations said this World AIDS Day, “we are highlighting the importance of the right to health and the challenges that people living with and affected by HIV face in fulfilling that right.”

He said the right to health is a fundamental human right, noting that everybody has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. “The world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals—which include the target of ending AIDS by 2030—without people attaining their right to health. The right to health is interrelated with a range of other rights, including the rights to sanitation, food, decent housing, healthy working conditions and a clean environment.”

According to Sidibe the right to health means many different things: that no one person has a greater right to health care than anyone else; that there is adequate health-care infrastructure; that health-care services are respectful and non-discriminatory; and that health care must be medically appropriate and of good quality. But the right to health is more than that—by attaining the right to health, people’s dreams and promises can be fulfilled.

Dr. César Núñez, UNAIDS Latin America and Caribbean Regional Support Team Director in his message said World AIDS Day highlights the importance of the right to health as an essential condition to achieve the end of AIDS by 2030, as set forth in the Sustainable Development Goals. “The right to health is a fundamental human right. It is the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

For the right to health to be fulfilled, it is imperative: -that everyone, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or social status, has access to the prevention and treatment of any disease, that health is affordable or free-and that quality health services are free from discrimination.”

He said the right to health goes beyond access to health services and medicines. It is also linked to a variety of important rights, such as access to a comprehensive and quality education, good nutrition and healthy working conditions. Fulfilling the right to health enables everyone to fulfil their promise and their dreams.

“Latin America and the Caribbean have made important progress towards the Fast-Track goals. Latin America is among the regions of the world with the highest proportions of people living with HIV who know their status and in the Caribbean the proportion of people living with HIV who know their status and are on treatment is over 80%.”