Caribbean

A United Nations Economic and Social Council meeting concluded last week with unequivocal support for comprehensive sex education throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to help stem the HIV epidemic and promote overall health.

Last month, Haiti's donor conference raised money for a nation that has weathered storms time and time again.  The pledges added to the previously committed $3 billion in international assistance.  While all of this may seem like a large amount of money for a small Caribbean island, little investment in reproductive health has undermined overall goals of poverty alleviation. A new report highlights the gaps in reproductive health in Haiti, where re-occuring crises place women and families at risk.

Danielle Toppin explores an HIV prevention strategy proposed by Dr. Ray Noel, HIV Specialist for the Tobago Health Promotion Clinic, in an article in the Trinidadian newspaper The Sunday Guardian.

The National HIV/AIDS Commission of Barbados launched a prevention campaign consisting of public service announcements that draw on one of the Caribbean's core cultural elements: cricket.

Danielle Toppin travels to the British Virgin Islands to meet with local HIV/AIDS officials and begin to gauge what HIV/AIDS looks like there.

Danielle Toppin offers suggestions to improve a pilot survey in the Caribbean that fell short of reaching a wide number of people in groups vulnerable to HIV.