BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Ministry of Health, in collaboration with a local non-governmental organisation, Facilitating Access to Confidential Testing, Treatment and Support (FACTTS) is providing food hampers to a number of persons living with HIV/AIDS.
This revelation was made by the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Health, Elvis Newton, during an exclusive interview with this media house.
Newton explained that the Ministry of Health makes the monthly purchase to ensure that people are assisted in maintaining a nutritious diet. He said the purchases are made from C&C Superfoods in St. Kitts and Best Buy in Nevis, and that 20 persons have so far benefitted from the initiative – 16 in St. Kitts and four in Nevis.
FACTTS’ President Juletta Fyfeild told SKNVibes that the initiative is called the Nutrition Assistance Programme and it had started in January 2009 after preparations were implemented in the previous year.
Fyfeild stated there was a short lapse in the programme as a result of World Bank funding coming to an end.
“We had a little lapse in the programme after funding from the World Bank ended, and we had to seek funding elsewhere.”
The FACTTS President added that they were able to achieve funding from the Global Funding for a six-month period, but it would come to an end next month.
“At the moment, we have not been able to identify a new donor. While this programme comes to an end in February, we are looking at pursuing other avenues to ensure that we can continue this programme, which I must add has been well received by those that are benefiting from it.”
Fyfield indicated that there are several challenges facing her organisation, pointing out that because of limited funding opportunities, garnering the required financial resources would be difficult.
In response to his ministry’s achievements in combating the issue of HIV/AIDS at this stage, PS Newton said he is not completely satisfied but they are working towards achieving 100 percent success.
“The ministry is always looking at its programmes. There are some challenges in some aspects of the programme but we have succeeded in other areas…so it’s a working progress. I think that our interest is really ensuring that we have sustained progress and sustained achievements. There are some areas that we are very happy about and there are other areas which we have recognised as having gaps, and so we will continue to work towards reducing the gaps so that ultimately we can achieve the objectives that we want.”
Newton explained that ARV was first introduced to the Federation in 2000 when his ministry begun providing it to persons living with the disease, and so far “it has been moving ahead smoothly”.
He said the Ministry of Health has a proactive relationship with some of the supermarkets and while there is no existing arrangement in terms of support and assistance, he firmly believes time is the major factor for that to be achieved.
“It is a slow process but we believe that in time it will get better, as we aggressively continue to push ahead with assisting persons living with HIV/AIDS here in the Federation,” he concluded.
