BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) -- Barbados is the first country in the region to have a dedicated HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre (The Vashti Inniss Empowerment Centre).
Minister of Health, Donville Inniss, presenting a painting of the HIV Food Bank and Personal Development Centre to Vashti Inniss, retired Health Educator in HIV Management and initiator of the HIV/AIDS Food Bank.
It was officially opened Wednesday in St Michael by Health Minister, Donville Inniss.
In addressing the ceremony, Minister Inniss pointed out that the new facility signalled Government's commitment to meet the 2006 United Nations' General Assembly goal of Universal Access to comprehensive HIV prevention, programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010.
He said: "The results to the scaling up of efforts have been promising, with statistics showing that persons are now learning to live with HIV instead of waiting to die from it. In scaling up towards universal access, countries must ensure that nobody is left behind and our efforts must therefore be equitable, accessible and affordable. The opening of the HIV/AIDS Food Bank and Personal Development Centre is one of the ways in which this Government cements its commitment to universal access."
He explained that universal access signified a concrete commitment and a renewed resolve among people around the globe to reverse the course of the epidemic. "It is not a new initiative, but rather it builds on past processes and infuses existing initiatives with new momentum," said Inniss.
Barbados' Health Minister further observed that "AIDS is an exceptional crisis requiring an exceptional response" and reflected that other commitments had been made in response to the pandemic. Among them was the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in 2001, where the disease increasingly received the political and financial attention it deserved.
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