CARIBBEAN Aids epidemic DIA Insa Ben Said

Aids epidemic Bahamas,Barbados,Belize,Guyana,Haiti,Jam aica,Suriname,Trinidad and Tobago:HIV prevalence reached or surpassed 1% Key factor of the spread of transmission is intercourse;unprotected sex between sex workers and clients Young girls with older men: higher risk

Aids epidemic Unsafe injection drug use is for a minority of HIV infections(Bermuda) Hidden facet because stigmatized socially and institutionnally:unsafe sex between men : 12% result of unsafe sex betw men.(20% in Trinidad and Tobago 25% of whom said having regular sex with women Prisoners :high levels of HIV infection 2-4% 5% among prisoners in Belize

Aids epidemic National adult HIV prevalence has stabilized in several Caribbean countries,including the DR and Haiti where declines have been observed in some urban areas The use of condom remains an exception rather than a norm in rural communities in Haiti (16% of women and 31% of men used a condom the last time they had sex Positive effects of expanded access to antiretroviral therapy.annual deaths have decreased by 85% betw 2001 and 2002/2006 introduction of free ART

Aids epidemic In Jamaica 80% of HIV positive mothers attending public antenatal clinics now receive ART to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies(65% in 2005) HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending ant clin in the Bahamas remained at around 3% since 2000, 2.9% in 2004.Wider access to ART (467 in 2002 to 3243 in 2005)has reduced mother to child transmission (25% in 1997 to under 5% in 2003) The same in Trinidad ( reduced number of AIDS related deaths by 53%betw 2002/2006 No seroprevalence studies conducted in Barbados

Aids epidemic HIV surveillance systems remain inadequate in several countries,making it difficult to gauge recent trends in their epidemics.But AIDS remains in the Caribbean one of the leading causes of death among people aged 25 to 44 years.The scaling up of ART could be reducing the numbers of HIV positive people progressing to AIDS and eventually dying of AIDS related illnesses:28000 started ART by end 2006 (fivefold increase in under 3 years) THANK YOU end of part1

Trade union responses Global Framework agreements used ILO code of practice which contains fundamental principles for policies at national or entreprise levels.10 Key principles Not yet “03/12/08’ILO convention specifically addresses HIV in the workplace. Nonetheless exist many instruments which cover both protection against discrimination and prevention of infection

Trade union responses Conventions 111 Discrimination C155 OSH C158 Termination of employment C159 Vocational Reh&Emp disabled pe C102 Social security minimum stands C81 Labour inspection&LI Agriculture

Trade union responses In the last twenty years, around 600,000 people in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region have died from AIDS. Today, two million people live with HIV/AIDS and over 500 contract the virus every day. According to the latest AIDS Epidemic Update 2005, despite examples of good practices in the region, Latin America saw the highest number of new infections ever during 2005, totalling more than 200,000.

Trade union responses In a context where an estimated 85 per cent of all new employment opportunities globally are created in the informal economy, the issue of job quality is a key concern with poor working conditions, lack of security and low earnings often insufficient to lift people out of poverty. The two groups most likely to be found in the unprotected informal economy are women and young people. For them, the rising tide of HIV infections and the decent work deficit are concurrent trends. Among young people of years in Latin America, an estimated 0.4 per cent of women and 0.6 per cent of men were living with HIV in In the Caribbean, UNAIDS reports that infections among young people, and young women in particular, are rising

Trade union responses In the Caribbean, the Jamaica Employers’ Federation has agreed a joint Memorandum of Understanding on HIV/AIDS with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions; the Barbados Employers Confederation has produced a widely-used booklet for managers and supervisors entitled ‘HIV/AIDS Discrimination in the Workplace is Wrong’; and the Bank, Insurance and General Workers Trade Union in Trinidad and Tobago (BIGWU) has included HIV/AIDS provisions in at least five collective agreements

Trade union responses Improve the capacity of the social partners, including the trade union movement at the national and regional level, to own and respond to the HIV/AIDS challenges in the workplace and improve capacity for project design, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation

Trade union responses Access to the large segment of workers in the informal economy requires effective interventions to address the needs of a wide range of increasingly diversified and inter-dependant sectors including the household level These are the challenges we are facing and its up to us to overcome the obstacles… Thank you again for your attention…