New Public Service Announcements (PSAs) to air in the English
speaking Caribbean aim to change the mind-set and behaviour of
youth, migrants and mobile populations in relation to HIV and AIDS.

The three animated PSAs are part of a HIV and AIDS prevention
campaign created by IOM, the Pan-American Health Organization
(PAHO), the AIDS Institute and the Art Center College of Design in
California. 

HIV/AIDS is a serious problem in the Caribbean where more than
two per cent of the population is HIV positive in at least six
countries – Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana,
Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. This prevalence rate makes the
region one of the worst affected in the world, second only to
sub-Saharan Africa.

Though migrants are sometimes perceived as contributing to the
spread of HIV/AIDS across borders, research has shown that they are
often more vulnerable to HIV infection than local populations and
face greater barriers in accessing healthcare and support if living
with HIV/AIDS.

An IOM study on HIV/AIDS and Mobile Populations in Barbados,
Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and
Tobago, found that young women are particularly at risk for HIV
infection in the Caribbean.  Studies in other regions have
shown that mobility alone is not a risk factor for HIV/AIDS but
that the circumstances of movement – whether voluntary or
involuntary, legal or irregular, can impact the potential risk of
HIV infection for migrants.

To evaluate the messages contained in the PSAs, IOM and the AIDS
Institute hosted a validation session this past August at the XVI
International AIDS Conference in Toronto. CARICOM Youth Ambassadors
on HIV participated, as well as government officials and NGOs .

The PSAs will be shown in Washington tomorrow to ministers of
health from the Caribbean during a luncheon hosted by IOM’s
Acting Director of Migration Health Services, Jacqueline
Weekers.  The gathering, taking place on the eve of
PAHO’s annual council meeting, also aims to strengthen
existing partnerships, exchange views about migration and health
priority issues in the Caribbean, and for participants to
brainstorm about current and future IOM and PAHO programmes and how
these can complement the efforts of Caribbean countries.

For more information contact:

Niurka Piñeiro

IOM Washington

Tel: 1-202-862-1826 ext. 225

E-mail: "mailto:npineiro@iom.int">npineiro@iom.int