Quotes

Quote
Posted on in Uncategorized
The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS has teamed up with Scotia Bank for this year’s Regional HIV Testing Day. Research has shown that getting tested and knowing your status is one way to stem this epidemic. Since many locations are offering free services (The Virgin Islands Daily News just posted a story on free testing services on St. Thomas and St. Croix), there is no excuse for not getting tested. Take your best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister or another loved one with you and have them get tested also. HIV rates is rising among young people in the Caribbean. And young women are increasingly being affected. It can be a difficult decision to get tested, but it is a necessary decision. And, while getting tested for HIV, it’s imperative that we also get tested for other STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis since having an STI increases ones risk for getting HIV. And for those not in the region, the US’s National HIV Testing Day is on Monday, June 27th.
Look below for your country and a location nearest you.
Country Test Locations Test Day
Anguilla The Valley Scotiabank June 24
Antigua Wood’s Centre Scotiabank June 27
High Street Scotiabank June 27
Barbuda June 25
AIDS Secretariat Office June 26
Bahamas Rawson Square Scotiabank June 24
Barbados Black Rock Scotiabank June 24 -25
Broad Street Scotiabank June 24 -25
Haggatt Hall Scotiabank June 24 -25
Holetown Scotiabank June 24 -25
Independence Square June 24 -25
Warrens Scotiabank June 24 -25
Rockley Scotiabank June 24 -25
BVI Virgin Gorda Scotiabank June 24
Road Town, Tortola Scotiabank June 24
Cayman Islands George Town General Practice June 27 – July 1
George Town Public Health Section June 27 – July 1
West Bay Health Centre June 27 – July 1
Bodden Town Health Centre June 27 – July 1
East End Health Centre June 27 – July 1
North Side Health Centre June 27 – July 1
Faith Hospital/PH Clinic – Cayman Brac June 27 – July 1
Little Cayman Clinic – Litle Cayman June 27 – July 1
Dominica Laplaine June 24
Grandbay June 24
Roseau June 24
Kalinago Territory June 24
French Guiana June 27
Grenada Grenville Scotiabank June 24
Grand Anse Scotiabank June 24
Esplanade Mall June 24
Guyana Robb Street Scotiabank June 24
Carmichael Street Scotiabank June 24
New Amsterdam Scotiabank June 24
Bartica Scotiabank June 24
Olivet Seven Day Adventist (SDA) June 25
Ephesus SDA June 25
Smyrna SDA June 25
Shiloh SDA June 25
Plaisance SDA June 25
Carmel SDA June 25
Moriah SDA June 25
Stanley Town SDA June 25
Philadelphia SDA June 25
Eden SDA June 25
City Mall (MARPS) June 25
Ashmins (MARPS) June 25
Parika Scotiabank June 26
Demico House Car Park (MARPS) June 27
For the Children Sake June 27
Haiti Port-au-Prince Scotiabank June 24
Carrefour Scotiabank June 24
Petion-Ville Scotiabank
(PubliGestion Parking)		 June 24
Hopital La Paix
(for Scotiabank – Delmas Branch)		 June 24
Institute Fame Pereo June 24
Hopital St. François de Salle June 24
Foyer St. Camille
– Plaine du Cul de Sac – Marin		 June 24
Centre de Development de la Santé (CDS)
– Plaine du Cul de Sac – Cazeau		 June 24
Promoteurs Objectifs ZeroSIDA (POZ)
– Centre Ville (Rue Alix Roy)		 June 24
Centre de la Croix-des-Bouquets June 24
Jamaica Sam Sharpe Square Scotiabank,
Montego Bay		 June 24
Barnett Street Scotiabank, Montego Bay June 24
Hagley Park Scotiabank, Kingston June 24
Premiere Scotiabank, Kingston June 24
St. Ann’s Bay Scotiabank, Ocho Rios June 24
Highgate Scotiabank, St. Mary June 24
Santa Cruz Scotiabank, St. Elizabeth June 24
Frankfield Scotiabank, Clarendon June 24
St. Kitts Princes Street Scotiabank,
Basseterre, St. Kitts		 June 24
Main Street, Nevis June 24
St. Lucia Castries Scotiabank June 24
Rodney Bay Scotiabank June 24
Vieux- Fort Scotiabank June 24
St. Maarten Phillipsburg Scotiabank June 25
St. Vincent Planned Parenthood Association, Frenches June 27 -28
Outpatient Dept. Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, Kingstown June 27
Ministry of Health, Wellness and Environment, Ministerial Buildings June 27
Suriname June 27
Trinidad Rio Claro Health Centre, Corner Dougdeen and De Verteuil Street, Rio Claro June 24
La Brea Health Centre, New Lands, La Brea June 24
Brian Lara Promenade
(opposite RBTT- near to the Cipriani Statue)		 June 27
San Juan Promenade June 27
St. James District Health Facility,
112 Western Main Road St James		 June 27
NWRHA Head Office. 39 Dundonald Street June 27
George Street VCT Clinic, George Street,
Port of Spain		 June 27
San Juan Health Centre, Real Street, San Juan June 27
Petit Valley Health Centre, Mornecoco Road, Petit Valley June 27
QPCC&C, COSTAATT Building June 27
Arima District Health Facility, Queen Mary Avenue, Arima June 27
Tacarigua Health Centre. El Dorado Road, Tunapuna June 27
Maloney Health Centre, Flamingo Boulevard, Maloney Gardens June 27
Chaguanas Health Facility, Cor. Montrose Main and Galt Street, Chaguanas June 27
Tropical Angel Harp Pan Yard,
Cor. Old Southern Main Road		 June 27
Mayaro District Health Facility, Main Road, Mayaro June 27
Sangre Grande Health Centre, Henderson St, Sangre Grande June 27
Cumuto Outreach Centre, Cumuto Main Road, June 27
Cumana Outreach Centre, Cumana Main Road, (By Triangle next to Health Centre) June 27
Accident and Emergency,
San Fernando General Hospital		 June 27
Kings Wharf, San Fernando June 27
Marabella Health Centre, Market Street, Marabella June 27
Siparia District Health Facility,
Cor Grell and High Street, Siparia		 June 27
UWI Health Services Unit (For Students ONLY), UWI Campus, St. Augustine June 27
Tobago Scarborough Health Centre, Bacolet Gardens, Scarborough, June 27
Canaan Health Centre, Guy Street,
Canaan Tobago		 June 27
Roxborough Health Centre,
Roxborough Main Road		 June 24
Turks & Caicos Scotia Centre June 24
Anglican Church Dillon Hall,
Pond Street Grand Turk		 June 24
Grace Bay Centre Scotiabank June 24
USVI Havensight Scotiabank, St. Thomas June 24
Sunny Isle Scotiabank, St. Croix June 24 
Source:
Quote
Posted on in Uncategorized

Educating girls have become one of the major development and public health focus across the globe. A new documentary called To Educate a Girl explores what it takes to educate girls in Nepal and Uganda.

Although the stories are within the global context, it is powerful enough to warrant discussions across the region. Why? Because even in countries reporting very high literacy rates, disparities do exist from country to country and even within particular countries. Additionally, higher education attainment does not translate to increased empowerment for young women.

A Joint UNAIDS/UNFPA/UNIFEM report found that although girls outperform boys throughout our education system, including at the university level, the rate of new HIV infection among girls 15 to 19 is five times higher among girls than boys in this age group. According to Sir George Alleyne, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, this ‘remarkable paradox’ between higher education levels and higher rates of HIV prevalence is tied to young women’s inability to advocate for themselves despite their years of education.

“Possibly, the skills and knowledge women acquire in the formal education system are not sufficient to enable them to take control over other parts of their lives…it may come too late to prevent them from being the victim of unwanted or transactional sex as adolescents,” he says.

Among the multiple benefits of educating girls, UNESCO lists: increased family incomes, reduced fertility rates, and greater opportunities and life choices for women (including better chances to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS). The increasing HIV (and STI) rates suggests we need greater emphasis on what and how we educate young women, and not be satisfied to say that we are getting people through school.

For the full video, visit viewchange.org at http://www.viewchange.org/videos/to-educate-a-girl

Sources:
http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/women/report/chapter5.html
http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/en-press/press-kit_wome.shtm
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/jamaica_29872.html

Quote
Posted on in Uncategorized

Geneva, Switzerland – The International AIDS Society (IAS), in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the NIH-supported Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR), today announced the launch of a new round of the joint research grant programme, Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research (CNIHR).

The CNIHR programme supports projects intended to advance the scientific understanding of HIV by exploring new approaches to pressing scientific questions on such issues as the long-term survival of individuals with HIV infection, strategies to control viral reservoirs and research leading toward a cure for HIV/AIDS, and new approaches for the prevention of HIV transmission including treatment as prevention. “The NIH is delighted to continue this important international partnership, which is designed to promote innovative research and new ideas from early-stage investigators whose primary focus has previously been in fields of scientific inquiry other than HIV/AIDS,” Dr Jack Whitescarver, NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director of the Office of AIDS Research, said. “The science of AIDS is making important strides, and we need to continue to generate innovative ideas and build multi-disciplinary collaborations. We must recruit and train tomorrow’s leading HIV researchers from across many areas of science, whose work will benefit not only HIV, but other fields of research as well.”

Given the limited resources available to pursue the rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to all who need it, as well as the fact that in resource-limited settings, new infections continue to outstrip numbers of people on treatment by two to one, there is a strong need for continued investments to find new strategies to tackle the HIV epidemic. “In the current economic climate of treatment funding shortages and with a scale of unmet need that can only increase, the IAS is highly concerned by the long-term sustainability of antiretroviral therapy rollout,” Elly Katabira, IAS President, said. “Along with our partners, the IAS is committed to investing in finding better and more cost-effective options to curb the epidemic. One of the ways we can pursue this is through the CNIHR research grant programme.”

The first round of grants was announced in 2010. The joint programme awarded a total of US$3.4 million to fund the research projects of outstanding early-stage researchers. Each awardee is funded for up to two years with up to $150,000 (direct costs) per year plus applicable indirect costs .

“The truly international nature of this programme – it is open to candidates globally – enables it to select the best research projects from all over the world,” Prof Michael Saag , Director of CFAR at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, commented. “ The first 10 awardees come from a wide range of scientific disciplines and locations, including Australia, India, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.”

The first step of the competitive application process is now open on the CNIHR website ( www.cnihr.org) and will close on 17 October 2011. Applicants will be asked to complete a two-step process to assess the quality of their research projects. Awardees will be selected by mid-April 2012 and will be able to start their research projects in June 2012. The research projects will be supported in collaboration with a CFAR institution with expertise in each candidate’s area of proposed research.

“Through this programme, promising young researchers have access to CFAR’s solid expertise and infrastructure, which is extremely important for the success of their projects,” Prof King Holmes, Director of the CFAR at the University of Washington, said. Awardees will also have the chance to take part in a networking and training programme at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), which will be held in Washington D.C. on 22-27 July 2012, where the results of the selection process will be announced.

 

Quote
Posted on in Uncategorized
CARICOM SG (second from left) poses with Dr Jerome Walcott, CARPHA's Implementation Program Manager (left), the Hon Denzil Douglas, PM of St Kitts and Nevis (centre), Dr Mirta Roses, PAHO Director (second from right) and Dr Edward Greene, Special Adviser, CARPHA (at right) , at the Second Annual Partners Conference which opened in Washington, June 13, 2011.

This was the concluding thought from Dr. Denzil Douglas, after this weeks partner’s conference in support of the Caribbean Regional Public Health Agency. I saw it at the end of a press release on CARICOM’s website. To me, this phrase creates the set-up for a perfect Tweet. Yet, when I search CARICOM on Twitter, I come up blank. Try finding a video of recent Caribbean-related public health events on Youtube…there are none. CARICOM does not exits there either. The travesty continues when you visit their homepage. There are no links to social networking sites. For blue box with a F for Facebook; no little birds inviting you to follow them. Not even the option to “Add This” or “Share”.

There was another press release announcing today’s CARICOM conference focusing on increased youth involvement in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Did you know it was going on?. I can’t help but think we are missing a large part of youth population just by how we go about communicating with them.  Now, I’m the first to always admit that social media is not the end all be all and that the digital dividedoes exist. However, anecdotally, we know that young Caribbean people access the Internet extensively. It’s well known outside the western developed world that access to the internet is not always tied to a computer…and that in many parts of the world, people are more likely to use their mobile phones to access the internet. Therefore, it’s important to communicate in such a way that allows for quick upload of webpages and to easy browsing. Social media sites are among the most visited on mobile phones. So, why does CARICOM, the premiere agency for regional policy making communicate with it’s public via those channels?

One of the first things I learned in studying communication was that the only message is the message received. Therefore, if CARICOM continued to communicate through the same channels while it’s young population gravitates to something else, not only is there a disconnect; this represents to many missed opportunities. I still support traditional media. But, if we want young people to be engaged, we have to reach them where they hang out; where they exit. This is about expanding the public sphere, of which access to accurate and quality information is vital. So CARICOM, I challenge you to rewrite your own communication history along with that of Caribbean public health history. After all, these tools are not just important for delivering messages about what you are doing. They become vital in also delivering important disease prevention, risk reduction and disaster preparedness messages as well.

So, while we are rewriting Caribbean public health history, wouldn’t it do us good to keep up with technologies that impact health? What do you think is holding CARICOM back? Do they lack the expertise to put together a webpage with information on how to connect with the organization online? Is it a matter of human resources or finances? Should CARICOM have a dedicated social media strategist? Or, is this just a waste of time and money? Share your thoughts below.