World Bank meets with Haitian Prime Minster

Reporting from Port-au-Prince for Radio Melodie

3 August 2010

La directrice generale de la Banque Mondiale et la Vice Présidente pour l’Amerique Latine et les Caraibes se sont rencontrer avec le Premier Ministre Jean Max Bellerive aujourd’hui pour clarifier le partenariat entre l’institution financiere et le pays.

La Banque Mondiale dirige le Fonds de Reconstruction d’Haiti qui s’est rencontré pour la premiere fois en moi juin. Les premiers deux projets était déjà approve pour soutenir le gouvernement avec 30 million dollars Americaines.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Directrice Generale a dit aux journalistes que les prochaines projets peuvent se focaliser sur le probleme du logement, et des decombres. Le FRH va se rencontrer encore le 17 Aout pour clarifier les prochaines etapes. Mais la taille de projet est limité par un manque de fonds. De 500 million dollars promis par des bailleurs seulement 97 million sont disponibles.

Pour les projets Haiti doit payer 2.5% ou un taux fixe a 350,000 dollars pour l’implementation des projets. Ce concernait des officiaux Haitiens avant. mais Pamela Cox , Vice presidente pour l’Amerique Latine et les Caraibes soulignait que ce montant vient de FRH, et qu’il n’y a plus de dette de la Banque Mondiale à Haiti. Les derniers dettes etait annullé depuis le 12 Janvier.

Caribbean youth activists emphasize solidarity and empowerment to address HIV

For One Caribbean Radio in Brooklyn, reporting from Vienna.

22 July 2010

Caribbean youth and AIDS advocates gathered at the Vienna AIDS Conference yesterday to talk about the future of the epidemic in the region.

Dr Ernest Massiah, Director of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team urged Caribbean youth to keep pressure on international donors to maintain commitment to the region. In the face of the financial crisis, he warned that many funders are tightening their budgets. He also highlighted the noticeable absence of Caribbean voices in the central conference spaces, despite worryingly high HIV rates in the region.

The Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS, with support from the Global Fund, will launch a new program this year to work towards universal access to treatment and prevention. The program will target vulnerable populations including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, drug users, marginalized youth and prisoners.

Unifying the islands under one central HIV program will allow for the implementation of projects to deal with marginalized groups, which could otherwise be overlooked at the country level.

The youth component will aim to empower marginalized youths to address the stigma and discrimination that impedes access to services. Elias Ramos presented the work of Yur World, a youth organization in the Dominican Republic. He told One Caribbean Radio that their biggest challenge had been unifying diverse marginalized groups.

But John Waters, of COIN (Centro de Orientacion e Investigacion Integral) who works with Yur World, said that once those alliances are made they become a powerful lobbying voice. “There may not that many trans women in Dominica, or that many effeminate gay men,” he said, “but when they come together they start to have an impact”

The central theme of Caribbean organizing here in Vienna is unity and solidarity to make a stronger presence at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, which will take place, as Dr. Massiah said, in the Caribbean’s “back yard”--Washington DC.

Haitians raise their voices at the International AIDS Conference

For One Caribbean Radio (onecaribbeanradio.com)

23 July 2010

Haitian AIDS activists and allies rallied on the main stage ahead of one of the plenary sessions this week at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna to highlight the worrisome plight of Haitians living with HIV. In front of the largest conference hall the activists called for an end to stigma and renewed commitment to care and treatment for Haitians facing vulnerable situations and combating the virus.

Esther Boucicault (pronounced Bu-see-cole) was the first HIV positive person to publicly disclose her status in Haiti in 1998. She has since started a foundation which works to educate Haitians about prevention, and advocates for services for people living with the virus.

She described the situation people living with HIV face in Haiti: “We are still in the streets, under tents, there are some medications—I can’t say there are none—but honestly there are difficulties locating people living in the streets so they can continue treatment.”

In 2004 Haiti had a 5.6 prevalence rate, but with the work of the Ministry of Health and NGOs a treatment scale-up allowed forty percent of those in need access to anti-retroviral treatment, and brought the national prevalence down to 2.2 percent.

Activists, however, worry that with the instability following the earthquake HIV cases could spike. Boucicault said that with unemployment and hopelessness, she sees an upswing is sexual activity, without broad condom use.

Dr. Jean William Pape is the director of GHESKIO, a locally grown research center for HIV dating back to the 1980’s before HIV had even been defined. He emphasized: “The key challenge is to move 1.2 million people who live in tents into definitive homes. And moving them is not just a physical move because it’s not an object that you’re moving from one place to another, it’s a human being that needs all kinds of services.”

Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, one of the largest non governmental medical providers in Haiti, called for coordination of services to strengthen the government and ensure wide spread access to care. He said all NGOs should be required to partner with the state, and should emphasize employing Haitians. Only by unifying the thousands of organizations working in Haiti can the country take control of its public services and ensure long-term health care for the Haitian people.