BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) is urging all stakeholders, including regional governments, to ensure that the necessary actions are taken to allow people who want to know their HIV/AIDS status to “come forward with the knowledge that they will not be treated differently”.

PANCAP Director, Dereck Springer, in a message marking World AIDS Day yesterday, said such persons if they are tested positive should receive “the treatment, care and support they need to enjoy good quality lives and achieve viral suppression.
“Only then can we get them to know their status and begin the journey towards ending AIDS as a public health threat in the Caribbean,” he warned.

World AIDS Day is being observed under theme “Know your status” and Springer said that it encourages people to be tested.
“This theme is very relevant as the world has committed to fast track actions towards achieving the 90-90-90 treatment targets by the year 2020. The UNAIDS 2018 Global AIDS Monitoring (GAM) report informs us that there are an estimated 310,000 adults and children living with HIV in the Caribbean, of which nearly 55,000 are unaware that they have HIV.”

Springer said that while many people experience anxieties when contemplating being tested, it is good to know that the majority of them will test HIV negative.
“What is important is those who know that they are HIV negative have an incentive to keep themselves free from HIV by adopting changes to their lives that can reduce their risk and vulnerability to HIV. The few who test positive for HIV can have immediate access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs that would enable them to enjoy a good quality life and live much longer.