October 2, 2007

Discussing Caribbean AIDS Issues

The United States’ Caribbean envoys will be meeting this week in Kingston, Jamaica, for the sixth annual Chiefs of Mission Conference on HIV/AIDS, which is being held by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the CDC’s Caribbean Regional Programme.

The aim of the conference, which is called “The role of Regional Co-operation in fighting HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean,” is to discuss ways in which regional leaders in the Caribbean can work with the U.S. government to stop the spread of HIV and to assess current HIV/AIDS programming in the region, where HIV stigma and homophobia are fuelling new infections.

Presenters at the conference include Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, AIDS pioneer Dr. Robert Gallo, and Berta Fernandez, program officer at the International Organization for Migration’s regional office for North America and the Caribbean.