The media launch will take place on Friday May 25th in Sam Sharpe Square Montego Bay Jamaica with bi-partisan support from the Prime Minister Most Honourable. Portia Simpson Miller, Leader of the Opposition Hon. Andrew Holness and the Ministry of Health with performances by LIVE UP Champion Tanya Stephens and others. This will kick off the Regional media campaign leading up to the Regional Testing Day on June 29.
Executive Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS Dr. Allyson Leacock says, “We began by reaching out to Scotiabank Caribbean East and they readily said they would offer their branches as testing locations. Then we reached out to PANCAP who willingly contacted the Ministries and Departments of Health and CBMP mounted a month long campaign to promote the testing sites in each country. This partnership continues today and has grown. Now 5 years later, after starting with just 6 countries and 2,300 people being tested, five years later 20 countries participate and over 30, 000 Caribbean people have been tested- over 10,000 were tested in 2011.”
Other members of civil society also work with this initiative including all National AIDS Programmes (NAPs), People Living with HIV (PLHIV) community, the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition. In Jamaica, full support is received by all of these organisations as well as Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, Jamaica Red Cross and Population Services International/Caribbean.
Select Scotiabank branches across the region will offer free HIV testing on the designated Testing Days in support of the initiative to increase awareness and help reduce the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the Caribbean. “Scotiabank is pleased to partner with CBMP to help heighten public interest in HIV testing,” said Bruce Bowen, Country Head, Scotiabank. “Supporting CBMP’s initiative to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS is part of our ongoing commitment to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the communities where we work and live.”
The United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) states that although the Caribbean accounts for a relatively small share of the global epidemic, its HIV prevalence among adults is about 1.0% which is higher than in all other regions outside sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS says unprotected sex between men and women—especially paid sex—is believed to be the main mode of HIV transmission in the Caribbean.
HIV Counseling and Testing is an important entry point into comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programs and services. Counseling and Testing programs provide an opportunity for more persons to know their HIV status; for the negative client to receive risk reduction counseling and support to stay negative; and for HIV infected client to be referred early into treatment and care programs and further counseled and supported.
Dr. Leacock says “In order to build awareness about the testing day, the CBMP and its 111 top broadcast members from 24 counties throughout the region will design, produce and distribute a coordinated campaign of radio and television Public Service Announcements reaching tens of thousands of people for the month preceding the testing day. This radio and TV campaign begins on the day of the Media Launch so this year it will be on Friday, May 25th at 10 am in Sam Sharpe Square.”
ABOUT SCOTIABANK
Scotiabank has been in the Caribbean and Central America since 1889, operating in 25 countries through nearly 370 branches and has a staff of about 10,160 people serving more than two million customers. Scotiabank is committed to supporting the well being of communities in which it operates. Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for its charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2007 the Bank provided more than $43 million in sponsorships and donations to a variety of projects and initiatives, primarily in the areas of healthcare, education, social services, the arts and culture. Please visit them at www.scotiabank.com.
ABOUT THE CBMP
The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) unites 111 top broadcasters from 24 countries in the region’s first coordinated media response to the pandemic. The Partnership creates a structured framework for sharing information and resources among broadcasters that significantly expands HIV/AIDS-related programming and public education activities across the Caribbean. Member broadcasters deliver HIV/AIDS information across a variety of platforms and formats, including targeted public service announcements (PSAs), entertainment programming, news and public affairs programming, and online resources.
The CBMP was launched in May 2006 at a regional summit of media executives on HIV/AIDS, organized by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The CBMP is overseen by a Board of Trustees chaired by Dr. Carol Jacobs, the first woman and the first person from the Caribbean to chair the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; a Steering Committee of broadcast executives, chaired by Julian Rogers, General Manager of Observer Radio, Antigua and representing a diverse constituency of media houses from Barbados, Jamaica, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Guyana, and regional organizations Caribbean Media Corporation and Caribbean Broadcasting Union.
In its five-year existence, The CBMP has received awards from the Global Business Coalition for its work as a model of business excellence in the field of HIV/AIDS; the Clinton Global Initiative, HBO and the NBA collaborated to provide CBMP with a PSA featuring Queen Latifah and Jamie Foxx for Caribbean Testing Campaign, the LIVE UP Heroes’ Campaign (featuring Barbadians Alison Hinds and Corey Lane as well as former Ms. Universe of Trinidad and Tobago Wendy Fitzwilliam) was honoured at the 2009 Academy Awards After Party hosted by Sir Elton John and the most recent was being selected one of three finalists in the One World Media Special Awards in the UK from hundreds of global entries. For more information, visit http://www.cbmphiv.org and www.iliveup.com.