Health Care for HIV/AIDS Needs to Be Priority, Conference Delegates Say

Workers picketed outside an AIDS clinic in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on Monday, complaining of garbage-strewn examination rooms and old equipment. About 20 doctors and nurses protested at the government-funded Queens Park Counseling Center and Clinic before it opened yesterday. Employees said the clinic, which sees 75 patients a day, has examining rooms no bigger than a closet; the examination tables are falling apart; some equipment is shoddy; and the bathrooms are dirty. "In terms of patient comfort and dignity, it doesn't get worse than this," Dr. Amery Browne said. "This is very degrading."

Meanwhile nearby, hundreds of health care professionals met at a conference to discuss ways of improving care to patients with HIV/AIDS. Catherine Williams, who works for a nonprofit AIDS counseling center, gave her support to the protest while addressing the 10th International Conference for People Living with HIV/AIDS. "The staff has protested so we can get access to proper health care," said Williams, the activities coordinator for the Community Action Resource Center in Port-of-Spain.

On Monday, the conference's 600 participants discussed how governments could be pressed to make HIV/AIDS treatment a priority. In the Caribbean, about 500,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS, according to the Caribbean Task Force on HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral treatments, available to some in Latin America on a limited basis, can prolong the lives of those living with AIDS for years, organizers said. "Medicines are still expensive," said Williams. "We've started the long journey to access to treatment, but there's still a big gap."

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