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| OECS HAPU Recommends Urgent Attention to Reduce Attrition Involving Persons with HIV/AIDS |
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| Written by Media |
| Friday, 18 August 2006 09:40 |
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OECS Member Countries are experiencing an increasing rate of attrition among persons living with HIV and Aids. (Attrition speaks to the gradual wearing away of morale and the powers of resistance by persistent attacks.) Dr. James St. Catherine, Coordinator of the OECS HIV and AIDS Project Unit (OECS HAPU) is advocating that OECS Member countries tackle the increasing attrition rate.  Dr. St. Catherine who identifies stigma and discrimination among the causes says there is growing evidence that scores of nationals are fleeing from their countries after learning they are HIV positive. He says many of the those migrants end up in St. Martin and other Eastern Caribbean countries. “People are stigmatized and discriminated against and it is quite evident that no one wants to be stigmatized and discriminated against because no one wants their job to be taken away from them as happens in several instances. There is a report coming out of St. Martin that 80% of the persons who are on treatment for HIV in that country are from the OECS and they are not natives of St. Martin. There is also a report not of the same level or percentage from both Martinique and Guadeloupe of people from the OECS countries seeking treatment there.” In an OECS News-Link report (www.oecs.org), St. Catherine stated that every country sees managing the cost of someone having the HIV/AIDS virus as a burden. He furthered that there is no research detailing the true extent of attrition and wants individual governments to develop strategies to treat this problem including stigma and discrimination. “They know best what the cultural norms and nuances are and they understand what the legal ramifications are, what are the tools, especially the legal tools that they command, what are the advocacy tools that they command what are some of the policies they can put in place to address that. So it’s country specific.”
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| Last Updated on Saturday, 30 May 2009 17:04 |
St. Catherine, who is also the Project Coordinator of the OECS Global Fund for AIDS is suggesting that the OECS Member Countries also consider leaning from best practices of several territories on dealing with the crises associated with attrition involving persons living with HIV/AIDS.“I think that is where the OECS can help by bringing to the attention of governments some of the strategies used in other areas for them to examine and see if they can adapt it to suit their own specific country needs.”-St. CatherineSubscribe to our Newsletters
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