HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will expand its Global AIDS Program to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean and Latin America. Secretary Thompson made the announcement following a meeting today with Sir George Alleyne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

"In the Caribbean, where HIV rates are the highest in the world outside Africa, we are committed to reducing HIV transmission through prevention," said Secretary Thompson. "We also will work to improve the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS and related infections."

CDC will work in partnership with the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC), assisting them with their HIV prevention efforts throughout the Caribbean. CAREC is one of eight scientific centers within PAHO and is a leading public health institution in the region.

"The AIDS epidemic has reached alarming proportions. In the Region of the Americas, one in every 200 persons between 15 and 49 years of age is HIV-infected. In the Caribbean, one in every 50 people has the infection, and we must intensify our fight against this deadly threat to health and development," said Sir Alleyne. "Combating the epidemic in the region requires a strong focus on prevention and access to quality, humane care and treatment, while maintaining the dignity of those infected and living with HIV/AIDS."

In June 2001, CDC will initiate technical assistance to CAREC, which will help improve the health status of Caribbean countries by supporting HIV prevention programs and care and treatment programs for HIV-infected individuals. This is not the first joint partnership with CAREC. In 1996, CAREC established the Caribbean AIDS Telecommunications and Information Network with resources from CDC. The network helps to increase awareness about the impact and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

CDC is committed to supporting those countries most in need in Latin America as well, where more than 50,000 people died from AIDS last year. CDC representatives will begin working directly with public health officials from Brazil, Guyana and Haiti, where more than three-quarters of a million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 1999.

Since 1999, CDC has established Global AIDS Programs in India and 14 countries in Africa. In 2001, CDC will support programs not only in the Caribbean, but also in countries in Asia and in additional nations in Africa. CDC's fiscal year 2001 appropriations for its global HIV/AIDS programs is more than $104 million. An additional $11 million funds ongoing research at CDC related to international HIV/AIDS activities.

Other HHS agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), are contributing to the AIDS fight in the Americas.

Since the early days of the epidemic, NIH has supported research efforts in countries affected by AIDS. Beginning in 1984 with a research project in Haiti, NIH has expanded its efforts to encompass more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. In fiscal year 2001, NIH will spend more than $100 million on AIDS research conducted with international partners.

HRSA is working with Mexico on the cross-border problems of HIV/AIDS and is targeting $13 million dollars over five years in grant funds for people with HIV disease and AIDS who live in the U.S. area of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Other federal agencies -- including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Labor -- as well as non-governmental organizations --including PAHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF -- also work with HHS to implement programs worldwide that help halt the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

CAREC provides laboratory reference and epidemiology services to 21 member countries, including Anguilla, Aruba, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and the Turks and Caicos. CAREC is located in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and was founded in 1975.