The OECS Commission’s HIV/TB Elimination Project has launched a series of animations aimed at raising awareness of TB and HIV in the Caribbean. The short, three-part, series tackles HIV/TB prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and control. One of the key messages of the series is that HIV patients can still lead a full life so early detection is of utmost importance.

This campaign targets the public, with the animations designed to encourage community involvement to facilitate social change. It also aims to bring HIV/TB into public discourse and in so doing address the stigma associated with these conditions and therefore combat the discrimination that those affected by HIV and TB may face.

The animation series is part of the significant body of work being carried out by the OECS Commission to meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets by 2020. These targets are to diagnose 90% of HIV-positive persons, provide antiretroviral therapy to 90% of people diagnosed and to achieve viral suppression in 90% of those treated.

The OECS HIV/TB Elimination Project

The OECS Commission’s HIV/TB Elimination Project is a multi-country project involving six OECS member states and began on 1^st April 2016 and runs until 31^st March 2019. As well as working towards the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets this project has the aim of ensuring that services for HIV, TB and STIs are sustained, strengthened, available and accessed by key affected populations in the OECS. To achieve their aims and objectives the HIV/TB Elimination Project will focus on five strategic areas:

1. To implement targeted evidence–based combination prevention strategies for key populations
2. To implement the TB elimination framework for low incidence countries to accelerate the elimination of TB in the OECS
3. To increase access to quality laboratory testing, screening and diagnosis for the clinical management of HIV and TB
4. To integrate TB control programs with HIV services to ensure that comprehensive, high quality care is provided for individuals co-infected with HIV and TB
5. To improve HIV/STI /TB surveillance system to increase the availability of data to support evidence-based planning, measure the impact of the response and the achievement of targets

The six member states involved in this project are Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines, each of these countries have their own national HIV programme which are aligned with this project.

View the Animation Series

You can view the videos from the animated series below:

Episode 1: HIV/TB Screening

Episode 2: HIV/TB Prevention

Episode 3: HIV/TB Control

More Information

For more information on this animation series you can visit the OECS’s website here  and for more information on their HIV/TB Elimination Project please click here

 

Friday 1st December was World AIDS Day and this year’s theme was: ‘My health, my right’

This theme recognises the fact that many people living with HIV are denied their right to health. Their right to health includes access to good quality health services and medications and being treated with dignity and respect.

It was a particularly good day for the Caribbean as Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and St Kitts and Nevis were certified by the World Health Organisation as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.  This follows the success of the Caribbean nation Cuba, in 2015, who became the first country in the world to achieve WHO certification for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

This is fantastic news for the Caribbean where HIV is a significant public health challenge with 310,000 people living with HIV.  In 2007, it was estimated that 6,400 children in the region were infected with HIV, most of these through mother-to-child transmission. Children who are infected with HIV have a challenging start to life facing a life-time of medication, stigma, ill-health and possibly a shortened life span. With all this in mind, in 2010 the Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean was launched.

This initiative is coordinated by the Pan-American Health Organisation and the United Nations Children Fund and its aim, at the time, was to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis in all Caribbean countries and territories by 2015 and to reduce the transmission rate to 2%. Whilst only one country, Cuba, made the 2015 deadline and the transmission rate is above 2% (it’s now 9%, 52% less than in 2010) great progress has been made: since 2010 new infections in children have been reduced in the region by 52% and 74% of pregnant women with HIV now have access to anti-retroviral drugs which significantly reduces chances of passing on the virus to their children during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

The Caribbean should be very proud as it is ahead of the rest of the world and we hope that other Caribbean countries will follow the example set by these six Caribbean nations and put policies and procedures in place to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child. This is very important in giving all children the best start in life and is a key step in the prevention HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.

For more information on this work you can download the document below,  visit UNAIDS’ website here or watch the short video below.

 

The 1st December is World AIDS Day and this year’s theme is: ‘My health, my right’

This theme recognises the fact that many people living with HIV are denied their right to health. Their right to health includes access to good quality health services and medications and being treated with dignity and respect.

You can find out more about the campaign on the campaign’s website here