Barbados has asked for US$700 000 through the global AIDS programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to finance a proposed AIDS centre to be set up in Barbados.
This was disclosed yesterday by Minister if Health Branford Taitt at his office at Jemmott’s Lane, St Michael. Taitt said officials from the Ministry of Health would be going to Geneva later this month to formally advance the proposal.
“The Ministry of Health submitted a programme that will be just short of US$700 000. That is the programme which we are expecting the committee will allocate to us for the year 1989 as part of our AIDS project,” said Taitt.
He explained an AIDS information centre would allow for a walk-in area for public information on the disease. The centre, to offer 24-hour service, is to be set up in the Ministry of Health.
Also present at the conference was Carlyle Guerra de Macedo, director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), who is presently on a four-nation tour of the Caribbean.
While on his two-day visit to Barbados, Macedo discussed with Taitt Caribbean cooperation in health programmes initiated two years ago.
Taitt said: “It is a programme in which we are seeking to have resources made available for programmes on a regional basis where they receive specific funds from countries and organisations for specific programmes.”
Macedo noted he would be in Barbados again next month for a meeting on AIDS, organised by PAHO. He said the meeting was scheduled for the Hilton Hotel, adding that more than 60 people would attend, including Caribbean Community ministers.
