Caribbean nations need to do more to fight HIV/AIDS, says official.

Countries across the Caribbean need to boost their HIV/AIDS care, treatment, education and prevention programs, says a United Nations official. Speaking recently in front of the United States Chiefs of Mission Conference of HIV/AIDS, Karen Sealy, head of the UNAIDS Caribbean office said that 38 people in the region die every day due to AIDS-related causes, reports the Caribbean Media Corporation.  There are 55 new cases of HIV in the Caribbean daily, she said, and prostitutes, along with men who have sexual relations with other men, are among the high-risk groups. Drug users are also contracting HIV/AIDS in higher numbers. “We know that the spread of HIV in the Caribbean is in fact being fueled by serious gaps in gender equality. …All the countries of the Americas which have homosexuality as a crime are now located in the Caribbean region,” Sealy said. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning touted his nation’s work to reduce spread HIV/AIDS, including providing free antiretroviral drugs to pregnant women at government clinics, but admitted more needs to be done. The Caribbean region is behind only sub-Saharan Africa in its HIV/AIDS rate, reports the Caribbean Media Corporation. About 230,000 people in the region are living with HIV/AIDS and 14,000 people died from AIDS last year, according to Kaiser.
 
Somalia’s government and militia will observe ceasefire.
There might soon be some relief in Somalia. The government and the one of the nation’s main opposition groups have agreed to abide by a ceasefire that actually was negotiated back in June during U.N.-sponsored talks. The ceasefire will be implemented as troops from Ethiopia, who’ve been in Somalia trying to stabilize the nation’s interim government, start withdrawing troops next month, reports the BBC. The government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia will come together to create a unified government, they say. As a part of the agreement, when Ethiopian troops (a popular target for rebel attacks) leave they will be replaced by African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi at first, then eventually a joint “police force,” reports the BBC. But the other militias who are also fighting the government are not included in the agreement at all. Some diplomats say Somalia’s problems will not totally improve until they are included.

TAGS: Caribbean, ceasefire, government, hiv/aids, Somalia, United Nations

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