Global HIV/AIDS

Caribbean Regional Office

(Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad, and Tobago)

Assets and Strategic Focus

Overview
The CDC began supporting the Caribbean region (CR) in 2002, providing regional technical assistance, building human resources, infrastructure capacity, and sustainable HIV/AIDS programs. CDC’s mission is to improve the CR’s public health by supporting national governments and their partners , including non governmental, regional, and international organizations to effectively respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in this region.

Caribbean Regional Partnership Framework (PF)
The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) implementing agencies, including CDC, worked closely with regional leadership to put in place a PF which maps out a 5-yr strategic framework (2009 – 2014) that includes regional national efforts to combat HIV and AIDS.

Strategic Focus
CDC focuses on four areas of the PF: 1) strategic information, 2) laboratory strengthening, 3) prevention, and 4) health systems strengthening.

Financial and technical assistance support is provided to build in-country capacity to collect, store, analyze and use high-quality HIV data for evidenced-based programming that has the greatest disease impact.

Notable Accomplishments

Developed HIV case surveillance standard operating procedures for Barbados, T&T, Bahamas, Jamaica, and St. Lucia
Provided technical assistance in developing surveillance reports for Barbados, St. Lucia, T&T, and Jamaica;
Developed formative assessments and most-at-risk population survey protocols for most-at-risk populations in Dominica, T&T, and Barbados nancial support, HIVQUAL has grown from a 12-hospital pilot into adoption into the Thai national system of nearly 1,000 public hospitals. ARO is helping other countries integrate HIVQUAL into their national systems.