Maho:--- Guyanese Minister of Health Leslie Ramsammy was elected chairman of PANCAP's Regional Coordinating Mechanism RCM at their 10th annual meeting held on St. Maarten. Ramsammy will take up his new post immediately which will run for one year.
Shortly after being elected Dr. Ramsammy told reporters that the Caribbean should no longer focus on reducing the problem of HIV/AIDS instead they should now focus on eliminating the transmission from mother to child. Dr. Ramsammy said the trajectory of reduction which they focused on in 2001 should now be replaced with a trajectory of elimination. He said the Caribbean now stands as the first region in the world that has an opportunity to eliminate mother to child transmission by 2015. He said he believes that this is an achievable target and that is what he believes PANCAP should focus on as a priority. Another priority for Dr. Ramsammy is the issue of human rights legislations. He said while people do things in good faith it would never work if there is no legislation in place to support them.
Commodities he said is another aspect that has to be looked at and the Caribbean must keep a tune to the development to topical gels and new technology. He said they also have to look at things that are related such as diseases that arise because of HIV/AIDS. He said tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise which addresses a major public health challenge. This he said must be addressed. HBV vaccines that are used to reduce and eliminate cervical cancer is another area that has to be explored. Dr. Ramsammy said he believes that health information has been withheld for too long which represents a weakness. For him it is totally unacceptable for those countries that do not have a strategic plan for HIV/AIDS. He asked how would one establish a priority if there is no plan in place and how would funding be sought.
Asked if too much focus is placed on HIV/AIDS while other diseases are neglected, the incoming RCM chairman said that attention to chronic non communicable diseases must be placed at the top of the agenda, including violence, injuries, traffic accidents all needs attention and can't be addressed with the limited funds that are available.
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