NATIONAL TRAINING WORK TO ADDRESS HIV/AIDS

March 22, 2007

A National Training Workshop is underway in Belize City to address H-I-V and AIDS. The workshop, titled, “Capacity Building for Mainstream Gender Analysis in H-I-V and AIDS Programming in the Caribbean”, is conducted by the National AIDS Commission, in conjunction with the United Nation’s Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM. Technical Director for the National AIDS Commission, Ruth Jaramillo tells us more.

Ruth Jaramillo: Technical Director

“We all recognize that gender plays a very significant roll in the spreading of HIV and this is an opportunity for partners involved in their response to understand what are the issues that affect decisions and promote behavior in HIV infection in Belize.”

Jaramillo says that the workshop seeks to equip participants with tools to address serious challenges regarding H-I-V and AIDS.

Ruth Jaramillo: Technical Director

“The participants who are broad sector representatives are the ones who are actually providing a lot of the support services nationwide. And it is very important from their perspective they understand that and what are some issues that are preventing for example men coming forward and getting tested and women receiving preventable treatment to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. It also gibes an understanding how our realities today for example our value and how our beliefs are impacting the roll of how men and women play. Most recently what has been promoted in the media is violence and there is a link between violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS and even that issue is being discussed in this workshop. The idea is for all of us to be very sensitive and understand that perhaps we may be getting our prevention messages wrong if we don’t take view of women and men and how they understand their beliefs and how their practices may be putting them at risk.” 

Technical Director for the National AIDS Commission, Ruth Jaramillo. The workshop concludes tomorrow and is being held at the Radisson Fort George Hotel.          

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