CARICOM Secretariat donates to National AIDS Programme food bank

The Food Bank of the National AIDS Programme, Guyana, on Monday received more than G$150, 000 worth of food items, a donation from staff of the CARICOM Secretariat.

Manager of the Food Bank, Mr. Somsadatt Ramesar told the gathering which included CARICOM’s Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General, “through the multi stakeholders’ approach, Guyana has been able to bend the trajectory of this epidemic”, in its 27 years  in Guyana.

According to Mr. Ramesar, “The Food Bank, one of the components of the national programme has …over the last eight years of its existence, offered and continues to offer critical nutritional support to PLHIV”. “A total of 27,834 Food Hampers have been distributed since 2007 -2014 thus far… “ he added..

Mr. Ramsar informed the gathering that this year’s distribution, as of September 2014   has enabled a total of 7963 patients (HIV, TB infected and HIV/TB co-infected) to have accessed the Food Bank during the years 2007 – 2014 across all regions of Guyana.

The CARICOM Secretariat’s donation was initiated and organised by its PANCAP Coordiating Unit in collaboration with the Staff Association of the Secretariat to mark World AIDS Day 2014. Several other initiatives were also held including a Brown Bag Session under the theme Closing the Gap – Respecting Diversity, Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing, and an exhibition which was supported by Youth Challenge Guyana, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Volunteer Youth Corps, Guyana Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS, and the National AIDS Programme Secretariat.