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.