2004 Speeches

Anti-Retroviral Delivery in the Caribbean

Feb. 9, 2004

Welcome Remarks
Dr. Roy L. Austin
U.S. Ambassador to T&T
Hilton Trinidad Hotel

Good morning. I wish to extend my warmest greetings to the Minister of Health of Trinidad and Tobago the Honorable John Rahael, CARICOM Assistant Secretary Dr. Edward Greene, PAHO Assistant Director Dr. Carissa Etienne, CAREC Director Dr. James Hospedales, Permanent Secretaries, the Chief Medical Officers, representatives of international organizations, Caribbean Network of Persons Living with HIV Director Ms. Yolanda Simon, national leaders in HIV/AIDS care and treatment, honored guests, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to welcome you to this important conference on HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Your presence signals a joint commitment to HIV/AIDS control in the Caribbean.

HIV/AIDS is the public health challenge of our generation. This microbe, invisible to the human eye, is having a huge and unparalleled impact upon national economies, security, social behavior, education, and migration. The HIV/AIDS epidemic challenges the fragile economies of the region, and stretches the regions public health infrastructure beyond reasonable limits.

Those of us representing the United States of America in the Caribbean are deeply concerned about HIV/AIDS in this region because this epidemic has already brought tremendous suffering to the region. We care, also, because of the remarkably close relationship between the U.S. and the nations of the Caribbean. To Americans in the lower continental 48 states, the people of the Caribbean are our maritime neighbors. The location of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also makes many Americans residents of the Caribbean. Moreover, Americans and Caribbean peoples meet frequently through pleasure-focused and business travel, migration and cultural exchange. Our contact certainly enriches our cultures and nations, but also leads us to have mutual concern about contagious diseases among our peoples.

In the face of the grim reality of HIV/AIDS, there are new and exciting developments in the effort to control this disease in the Caribbean. These efforts include the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the World Health Organization’s 3 by 5 Initiative; and President Bush’s bold initiatives to control international HIV/AIDS. All of these programs will be reviewed at this meeting. The striking aspect of these initiatives is the tremendous focus on the care and treatment of persons with HIV/AIDS. Public health and medical leaders are, for the first time, being provided resources for anti-retroviral medications and related components of HIV/AIDS care and treatment.

You are now challenged to deliver these complex services in the context of limited infrastructure and modest human capacity, and in a short time-frame. The extent of your success in this endeavor will determine the course of the epidemic. Your success in providing high quality care and treatment for HIV/AIDS will add significantly to the quality and quantity of life of many thousands of people. As importantly, comprehensive care and treatment for HIV/AIDS will play a role in halting its spread, through the biological effects of the medications on the virus, as well as through utilizing opportunities for prevention-counseling among persons living with HIV/AIDS.

This conference is designed to start a process by which you will have the opportunity to work together, share your best practices, develop regional approaches to common obstacles, and optimize the precious resources that are becoming available. Being together in one room should energize you and increase the likelihood of success.

A collaborative approach to HIV/AIDS-control in this region will require some extra effort for communication, including sharing of information. However, the benefits of such sharing may include reduced cost of medications and laboratory reagents, increased training opportunities for your front-line clinicians, and an enhanced ability to track the success of your HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs. We are engaged in a game in which unselfish play maximizes the chances of victory and of extending millions of lives.

I am certain that President Bush will applaud the effort you will expend at this meeting; and he will be happy to know of the support our public health agency, the CDC, is providing. I, too, am pleased to be associated in a small way with your important deliberations; and I promise to provide whatever support our embassy can contribute to your success.

Thank you for your continuing and inspiring commitment to the control of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, and in the world. I doubt that you will be offended if I should mention that the United States of America continues to show its own commitment to combating this global pandemic. On February 2, 2004, the U. S. Senate passed the Fiscal Year ’04 Omnibus Appropriations bill which provides $2.4 billion for this purpose.