Andrea Downer, Freelance Writer

The region's efforts to decrease HIV-related stigma and discrimination should be accelerated with the creation of regional legislation that can be adopted by countries in the region. Carl Browne, director of PANCAP, the regional body that has the mandate to scale up the region's HIV/AIDS response, says the new legislation could be ready by June next year.

Mr. Browne, who was speaking in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner in Barbados recently at PAN-Caribbean Partnership's (PANCAP's) third Champions For Change Conference, said the first conference in 2004 was held to engage parliamentarians who have the ability to influence policy.

Formulating policies

"In the first year, we sought to influence the people who have responsibility for formulating policies around HIV and AIDS. A lot of the legal frameworks in the region are bits and pieces that hinder the HIV efforts in the region. What we hope to develop are clearly defined legislative measures," he stated.

Mr. Browne said that PANCAP has been reviewing legal frameworks that exist in countries in the region and deciding which ones need to be regulated or removed totally.

"A number of them violate human rights while others promote social exclusion and a number of them, by their very nature, promote stigma and discrimination," Mr. Browne stated, adding that PANCAP is now moving towards developing model legislation that all countries in the region can adapt and use in their national HIV efforts.

"The challenge is to get politicians to make legislative changes for the social good while preserving their political future. However, with the regional legislation, a unified front will be presented, and that should make it easier for individual governments to enforce the legislation in their countries," Browne explained.

Legislation parameters

The legislation, he said, will address issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in the workplace and treatment of persons living with the disease by the health sector in particular. It will also address the issue of the liability of persons who knowingly infect others with HIV as well as human rights and access to treatment prevention, care and support.

Journalists were the latest group that PANCAP has sought to partner with as part of its effort to reduce stigma and discrimination against persons living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The agency, which was formed in 2001 with the mandate to lead the region's HIV/AIDS response, concluded its third regional Champions For Change Conference in Barbados a few weeks ago.

Mr. Browne disclosed that journalists are the third group that PANCAP has engaged as partners in its regional anti-stigma and discrimination initiative.

"In the second year we met with leaders from faith-based organisations," he disclosed.

Groups targeted

He said the groups were strategically targeted and that the role of faith-based organisations in the region's HIV/AIDS efforts is crucial. "One of PANCAP's major accomplishments was to have representatives from all of the major faith-based organisations in the region represented at last year's Champions For Change conference," he said.

"Prior to the Champions For Change initiative, the region's faith based efforts had been led by the Caribbean Conference of Churches. Champions For Change has broadened that by including all of the major religious groups. The Caribbean is a very religious community and religious groups have tremendous influence over the thoughts and actions of Caribbean people," noted Browne.

"Faith- based organisations have moved from a very traditional moral position and we hope to give religious leaders a better understanding of all of the aspects of HIV/AIDS so that they can play a role in the education of their own congregations."

Mr. Browne stressed that media have a crucial role to play in the region's anti-stigma and HIV/AIDS efforts, as many behaviour and lifestyle choices are determined by what is reported in the media and how those reports are handled.

After three years, Mr. Browne says PANCAP's journey in the fight against HIV and its consequences have only just begun. "The agenda of PANCAP in all of these areas has only started. The last three years were spent putting certain things in place. The next three years will be used to consolidate what we have done and tackle the new and emerging issues that contain challenges," he stated.