Brazil will help other Latin American and Caribbean countries fulfill their goals for HIV/AIDS treatment. Fulfilling these goals is a prerequisite for continuing to receive resources from the Global Fund.
Many of these countries run the risk of not having their agreements renewed, because they have failed to present substantial results in combatting and preventing the disease.
This information comes from the director of the Brazilian program to combat STD/AIDS, Pedro Chequer, who participated in a meeting on Friday, April 1st, with representatives of 13 countries that receive resources from the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Dominican Republic attended the meeting.
The emergency plan, according to Chequer, will be ready in two months at most and will have as its hub the Center for International Technical Cooperation, headquartered in Brasília.
Measures include listing and mobilizing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the 13 countries. The NGOs will be trained to act in the area of HIV/AIDS. Unlike Brazil, Chequer pointed out, many of these countries have no experience working with NGOs in this area.
For the representative of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Raul Boyle, Brazil’s enlarging its assistance is important, together with the development of instruments for the 13 countries to cooperate amongst themselves.
“Brazil already has agreements with various countries, especially with Paraguay and Bolivia in a general sense and with the Dominican Republic to prevent the spread of AIDS from mother to child,” he explained.
The Global Fund is a partnership between governments and international foundations to raise funds and finance projects for the prevention and treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Brazil, which doesn’t receive resources from the fund, hosted the gathering by virtue of constituting the secretariat of the Group of Horizontal Technical Cooperation in HIV/AIDS (GCTH).
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil