PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten is likely to record a small downturn in the number of HIV/AIDS infections for this year, St. Maarten AIDS Foundation President Dr. Gerard van Osch said on Thursday.
Van Osch told the gathering at the launch of the Stronger Together Red Ribbon Campaign, although the year has not yet ended and statistics can change, "2010 might be the first year we see a small downturn in the new number of infections, but let's not scream for joy just yet and continue to be vigilant.
"For that we need awareness, universal access to treatment and care, increased HIV testing efforts so everyone knows their status, continued efforts to involve persons living with HIV/AIDS into policy development and reduce stigma and discrimination."
Van Osch said despite a non-existing budget for HIV treatment "then and now" St. Maarten started treating persons living with HIV/AIDS much earlier than any country in the region.
"We started mono-treatment in 1993 and Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment in 1996, where most countries in the Caribbean only started in 2003 or 2005."
He said in 1995 St. Maarten was one of the first countries in the Caribbean with a Government appointed HIV/AIDS Coordinator.
"In 2001 St. Maarten was one of the first countries in the Caribbean with a broad based developed and implemented five year HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan. St. Maarten is the first island within the Netherlands Antilles, where free of charge HIV rapid testing days at such a large scale, have become so successful, and more and more people understand the importance of knowing their HIV status," Van Osch said.
Prevention efforts and these HIV testing days have greatly increased awareness and have helped reduced the stigma attached to this epidemic to some extent.
"Mind you this was not a one person or one organization effort; this has been accomplished by a large group of volunteers in collaboration with the Government's HIV/AIDS Programme Management Team. [St. Maarten HIV/AIDS Programme Manager] Suzette Moses-Burton's brainchild the Red Campaign has even been branded as one of PANCAP's best practices, while she has been able through effortless lobbying, to get the yearly General Meeting of PANCAP to our shores next month - a great achievement.
"And all of this, while over the years, because of the fact politically as an Oversees Country and Territory, St. Maarten was not able to tap into regional and international funds. We have always done our fundraisings locally and have been successful because not only do we have support from our community, but also from our corporate sector, our businesses" he said.
This is exactly what former US President Bill Clinton recently meant during his presentation at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where he suggested countries in general should stop waiting for international donors, and start working with locally raised moneys, because this will involve the public and businesses into the process of prevention, make them more aware and reduce stigma.
Van Osch said "while the world is coming to the realization we shouldn't sit and wait for our ships to come in, we in St. Maarten have for years rowed out and met them... despite the fact we did not put them on a huge billboard, the achievements just mentioned have actually been delivered and are by no means political promises."
For St. Maarten to become successful, insight, perseverance, support and money were needed. "Not only do we need funds for this process, local statistics still indicate the number of persons living with HIV/AIDS is growing, and the need for support both in counselling as in care and treatment for these persons will continue to grow as well," Van Osch concluded.
