Leadership needed to fight
increase in HIV/AIDS cases
PHILIPSBURG--Leadership in all sectors of the community and ending the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the fight against this epidemic were stressed strongly at the official World AIDS Day pinning ceremony yesterday morning.
State Secretary for Public Health Joan Smart-Berkel said in her address that the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS-infected persons that stopped many people who needed to be tested from being tested and the major denial that young people, especially adolescents, have sexual relationships were reasons why we were now dealing with a hidden and complex epidemic.
Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards in his address quoted from a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the global trend of HIV/AIDS-infected persons that the percentage of people living with HIV had levelled off and the number of new infections had fallen, in part as a result of the impact of HIV programmes.
However, at a ceremony later in the day to announce the amount accumulated during the Stronger Together HIV/AIDS Campaign, St. Maarten AIDS Foundation President Dr. Gerard van Osch said that while the global trends were changing, the number of new infections in St. Maarten continued to rise.
Reflecting on this statement, Richards stated that since 1990 there had been an average of approximately 85 new known HIV infections per year for the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles.
Leader of Government Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said in her address that the impact of this disease globally remained devastating and without a dramatic turning of the tide, the prospects for the future of a significant part of this earth remained frightening.
Nevertheless, she said, the realisation that AIDS is not solely a public health threat, but a societal one in general, has picked up momentum in St. Maarten due to the persistent efforts of the AIDS Foundation and the HIV/AIDS Programme Management Team. She expressed gratitude to persons and businesses that had made this global struggle their own for the sake of St. Maarten’s community, encouraging more businesses to join in the fight.
Commissioner of Health Maria Buncamper-Molanus said statistics collected were staggering and helped the nation understand the magnitude of this pandemic. However, statistics can also numb, as they can hide the individual stories and tragedies and hopes of those who live the daily drama of this disease, she added.
She said the toll HIV/AIDS was taking on the young St. Maarten working population could have far-reaching consequences, considering that the largest segment of the population was that group. She said that if the spread of HIV/AIDS in St. Maarten was not managed, the consequences could be undesirable for the economy.
Reflecting this concern, Richards said the government had budgeted for the HIV/AIDS information awareness programme in St. Maarten NAf. 150,000 in the year 2003 and NAf. 253,000 for the years 2007/2008, an increase of NAf. 103,000 (68.7 per cent). In regard to these figures, Richards said there were reasons enough to keep the promise of stopping AIDS, though it seemed an uphill battle.
Shedding some light on this factor, Smart-Berkel announced that the Netherlands Antilles was on the verge of benefiting from an agreement with the European Union that would make feasible its participation as a full partner for the first time ever in the Caribbean HIV/AIDS response. With this agreement, funding will become available to implement expanded programmes that are expected to make a significant impact in the communities and change the face of the epidemic, she said.
