Global Funds Approves US$15 Million for HIV/AIDS Programme

sHealth Minister, John Junor, announced today (March 16) that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GTFAM), has approved a grant of some US$15 million for phase two of the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Programme.The allocation was made after a recent assessment of the progress made under the five-year programme, which started in 2004, and is designed to assist the country's efforts to stem the spread of the disease.Minister Junor made the announcement as he addressed the launch of the Jamaica Employers Federation's (JEF) HIV/AIDS in the Workplace Corporate Survey at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
He informed that the launch of the survey would ensure that a workplace HIV/AIDS policy became a reality in every organization in Jamaica in the very near future. "All sectors of society have a role to play in fighting HIV/AIDS and the private sector is well placed to facilitate the process," he noted.
He also pointed out, that the formation of National Business Council, led by the JEF and the business community, would solidify the partnership between the public and private sectors in the national AIDS strategy and complement efforts to demystify the disease and engage persons in frank discussions on the issues.
According to the Health Minister, the private sector had the direct ability to impact and eliminate discrimination associated with the disease, by developing objective workplace policies to reduce the threats pose to HIV/AIDS prevention and care strategies.
"But we are not asking the private sector to do what we have not done ourselves. The workplace policy has been introduced and is being integrated into the operations of several ministries and public sector agencies in keeping with the Jamaica HIV/AIDS/STI National Strategic Plan; the National HIV/AIDS Policy; the International Labour Organization (ILO) Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work," the Minister said.
He informed that five ministries namely: Labour and Social Security; Industry and Tourism; Education, Youth and Culture; Local Government, Community Development and Sport; and National Security, were in the process of implementing a five-year work plan to reduce HIV transmission, to cope with people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in the workplace and to mitigate the impact.
"It is only through enforced policies enacted by the public and private sectors, that we will be able to dismantle these strongholds and create a workplace environment that guarantees persons their human rights and the opportunity to exercise their dignity," the Health Minister stressed.

Senate Approves Bill to Create Caribbean American Heritage Month

The United States Senate on Tuesday (February 14), unanimously approved a Bill authored by Congresswoman, Barbara Lee (D-Oakland, CA), to designate June as Caribbean American Heritage month in the USA.
The Bill acknowledges and celebrates the contributions of Caribbean-Americans to the United States since the inception of the country.
"Establishing a Caribbean American Heritage month will help pay tribute to the tremendous contributions Caribbean Americans have made throughout the history of this country. They have influenced every aspect of American culture, society and government.
Their history is intertwined with ours and should be recognized and celebrated," Congresswoman Lee said.She praised her colleagues in both the House and Senate for their support in moving the Bill forward and expressed hope that President George W. Bush will act quickly to sign the Bill into law in time for the celebrations this year.
Although the Bill is non-binding, Congresswoman Lee plans to work with supporters to urge President Bush to follow Congress' lead by proclaiming June National Caribbean American Heritage month.
As the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations Committee, and a member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, Mrs. Lee has worked to strengthen USA-Caribbean relations and raise awareness about the role that Caribbean people and their descendants have played in the USA.
Congresswoman Lee's Bill was approved by the House on June 27 last year and had 81 co-sponsors and support from more than 40 non-governmental organizations working on Caribbean-American issues.

Larger Diaspora Conference Expected in June 2006

Posted Monday, February 13, 2006
The number of registered participants for the second Jamaican Diaspora Conference has almost doubled from the 250 persons who attended the inaugural event in June 2004.
State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn made the disclosure at Friday's (Feb. 10) sitting of the senate, where he said an estimated 450 persons were expected to turn out for the conference in June.
Providing a breakdown of the range of participants, Senator Franklyn said some 150 persons were expected from the United States; 100 from the United Kingdom; 100 from Canada; 50 from the Caribbean region, Latin America and Africa; and 50 individuals from Jamaica.
Senator Franklyn, who was making his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate, explained that the government's involvement in the Diaspora Conference was a means of continuing its "developing and establishing structures and institutional arrangements to foster and strengthen the relationship with the diasporic community."
Referring to the decisions that were taken at the inaugural conference, he said the three most critical were the convening of a conference every two years; the establishment of a Jamaican Diaspora Foundation (JADF); and increasing the work in the Diaspora community through the establishment of appropriate structures.
In relation to the JADF, Senator Franklyn said the Foundation was intended to function as a limited liability non-profit organisation and should come on stream during the course of this year. Before the Foundation's formal establishment, he said, several elements had to be ironed out, such the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of the West Indies, which will be the site of the Foundation.
Additionally, a business plan estimated at $38 million has to be finalised to get the Foundation fully operational. According to Senator Franklyn, a commitment of $8 million each year, for two years, has already been received from a stakeholder.
Elaborating on the work to be carried out by the JADF, he said the primary objectives of the Foundation would be to strengthen the links and support systems between Jamaicans at home and those abroad and deepen the collaboration and cooperation among the stakeholder groups that serve them; serve as a liaison between the Diaspora communities and the government, private sector and community-based organisations in Jamaica; and make recommendations for government policies in respect of the Diaspora.
Senator Franklyn said following the 2004 Conference in Jamaica, the Diaspora community has been galvanised, with the contingent from the United States establishing trade councils in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The trade councils are intended to promote trade and investment opportunities in Jamaica.
As for the diasporic community in Canada, the Jamaica Diaspora Canada Foundation was launched in December 2004, with the focus areas of social development, education, health, and law enforcement.
The Foundation invited Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas, to visit Toronto where he met with representatives of the Toronto and Hamilton Police Services to discuss cooperation between the two sides.
In June 2005 a Jamaica Diaspora United Kingdom (UK) was launched and six regional group structures for engaging the Diaspora are being established.
Senator Franklyn said a regional Diaspora conference was slated for Birmingham in April, which he will attend, along with Commissioner Thomas and Member of Parliament for East Central St. James, Edmond Bartlett.
This year's Jamaica Diaspora Conference, which will be held from June 15 to 16 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Downtown Kingston, will focus on issues identified by the Diaspora, such as business opportunities, globalisation and the movement of people, tourism and culture, and crime.
Source: KINGSTON (JIS)

Elsa Leo-Rhynie next University of the West Indies (UWI) principal?

JAMAICA GLEANER NEWS

PRO VICE CHANCELLOR of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, is being tipped to replace Professor Kenneth Hall as principal of the institution.

Professor Hall, who has served as principal of the UWI since October 1996, is to be sworn in as the country's fifth Governor-General on February 15.

The Gleaner understands that current Deputy Principal Joseph Pereira was also being considered. It is understood that a high-level meeting was held among university officials last Friday to identify a successor to Professor Hall.

Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie is an accomplished scholar and authority on gender studies and education. She was appointed pro vice chancellor for under-graduate studies in August 2002. She had previously served as deputy principal of the Mona campus.

In 1977, she lectured in the Faculty of Education at the UWI and between 1987 and 1992 she was executive director of the then Institute of Management and Production.

From 1992 to 1996 Professor Leo-Rhynie was the regional co-ordinator of the UWI's Centre for Gender and Development Studies.

China Donates US$20,000 To Regional Negotiating Machinery

KINGSTON (JIS)

The negotiating efforts of the region have been boosted with a US$20,000 donation to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) by the Chinese government.

Director General of the CRNM, Ambassador Bernal, who received the cheque from China's Ambassador to Jamaica, Zhao Zhenyu yesterday (Jan.26) during a courtesy call at the embassy in Kingston, informed JIS News that the donation would assist the agency as it moved into more complex and detailed negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the European Union, for an economic partnership agreement.

"I think this donation is important because it will assist us at this time but also it is a symbol of a deepening relationship between Jamaica and the Caribbean," he said, noting that the benefits from the negotiations would redound to the entire region.

In reference to the Chinese proverb that says 'a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,' Ambassador Bernal said, "today we make the first step and I am sure we are going to journey together as we try to improve the terms and condition under which the Caribbean can participate in global trade, so it is timely and significant and I appreciate it on behalf of the member states of the CRNM."

Ambassador Zhao Zhenyu, in his reply, emphasized his willingness to foster even better relations between China and the Caribbean, while noting the importance of the CRNM in the development of the region. "We do hope that the relationship with China and CARICOM will get better and better," he stated.

CARICOM Heads meet in Jamaica Today for Symbolic Signing of CSM Agreement

CARICOM Heads of Government will converge in Jamaica today (Jan. 30) for the symbolic signing of the Single Market aspect of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).The historic ceremony will be held on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, which is one of the earliest symbols of regional integration. CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Edwin Carrington, will oversee the function, which will be carried live via television across the region.
Jamaica, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Suriname and Guyana, the six member countries that have already completed the process to bring the Single Market into effect, will sign a declaration formalizing their entry, while six other members states namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, will sign another declaration, stating their intention to join by the end of March.
With respect to the three other member states, the Bahamas is not yet a part of the Single Market arrangement, while Montserrat, a British dependency, awaits the necessary instrument of entrustment from the United Kingdom in order to participate. Haiti has not completed its accession to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and is therefore not a participant in the Single Market.
In addition to Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, already confirmed to attend Monday's ceremony are: Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer; Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur; Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; Prime Minister of Guyana, Samuel Hinds; Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas; Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr. Kenny Anthony; Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves; Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning and President of Suriname, Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan.Foreign Ministers Fred Mitchell and Elvin Nimrod will represent Bahamas and Grenada respectively, while government minister Jose Coye, will represent Belize.
Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Dr. Len Ishmael, and Caribbean Court of Justice President, Justice de la Bastide, will also be in attendance.
Dr. Carrington has described the launch of the Single Market as an historic and unprecedented step in the regional integration process, and a new dimension that will change the way the people of the region live and work. He noted further that the Single Market would "transform, safeguard and advance the future of our region and its people in its globalised world".
The inauguration of the CARICOM Single Market came out of the 1989 meeting of Heads in Grand Anse, Grenada, where the decision was made to further deepen the integration process by establishing the CSME. The aim was to create a single economic space where people, goods, services and capital can move freely. In order to achieve the CSME, the Treaty of Chaguaramas had to be revisited and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed in 2002.
As part of the arrangement, each CARICOM member state has been given a specific area of focus with Guyana having responsibility for agriculture; St. Lucia justice and governance; St. Kitts and Nevis health; Jamaica has external trade relations negotiations, with Prime Minister Patterson being the CARICOM spokesperson for the Free Trade Area of the Americas; Trinidad and Tobago has security; Belize has responsibility for sustainable development, which includes environmental concerns; Antigua and Barbuda has responsibility for services, and Barbados has lead responsibility for the CSME.
The final cap will be put on this historic regional economic integration process when the CSME is implemented in 2008.

Brazil's Culture Minister to recieve UWI Bob Marley Award

NEW YORK (JIS)Friday, January 20, 2006

The American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) will for the first time present the prestigious 'UWI Bob Marley Award' to Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture of Brazil at the Foundation's ninth Annual Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42 Street, New York City, on Thursday, February 2, 2006, at 6:30 p.m.Endorsed by Rita Marley, widow of the late reggae legend, Robert Nesta Marley as well as the Marley Foundation, the award is presented to an individual for outstanding achievements in the area of art and culture.
The annual benefit gala celebrations, which seek to highlight the outstanding legacy of the regional university, will again this year recognize a number of individuals and organizations for their commitment to the preservation of the educational legacy of the institution.
The 2006 distinguished class of honorees include: William R. Rhodes, Chairman, President/CEO of Citibank, NA and Citigroup, Inc; Al Roker, host and weatherman of NBC Network; Caribbean luminaries Sir Alister McIntyre, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Professor Rex Nettleford, Ambassador Peter King and Laurine Fenton, among others.
Speaking at a kick-off reception for this year's gala at the Rockefeller Plaza-Rainbow Room, on Wednesday, January 18, Honorary Patron Harry Belafonte noted that much of the answers to today's many challenges were rooted in the further education of our people.
Dr. Belafonte pointed out that as a result of an expanding world, there were system changes and paradigm shifts that made it increasingly difficult for institutions like UWI to meet the challenges of those who were most deserving of an education.
Verizon Foundation is the lead Chair for this year's event. Masters of Ceremonies are co-anchor of UPN 9 News at Ten, Brenda Blackmon and Maurice DuBois of CBS Channel 2, NYC.
The AFUWI was established in 1956 and serves as the primary vehicle for the University of the West Indies in its Capital Campaign and fundraising efforts in the USA.

Amoy not good rexan

amoy burned Miss Jackson dog on tuesday

Making a difference

BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-At-Large South/Central Bureau SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Twelve years ago when a group of New York-based Jamaicans got together to help their old school at Schoolfield close to Malvern in the Santa Cruz Mountains only a few among them would have visualised how big the programme would grow. From a past students association, then called the Schoolfield Association for Education (SAFE), focused only on developing the Schoolfield All-Age School, the institution has evolved into a US government recognised charity, logged on to the needs of Jamaican children. And while available resources remain much too limited for them to reach Jamaica’s length and breadth, the leaders of SAFE — which now means the Social Agenda for Education — say their organisation’s vision and capability are growing rapidly and the sky is now the limit. “We hope that one day our name will be synonymous with people doing things and that anywhere you go in Jamaica there will be some evidence that we have done something,” said Elton Bruce, president of SAFE. He was talking to journalists following a presentation of cricket gear to the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in Santa Cruz recently. “We can’t solve all the problems, and we won’t solve all the problems, but we can do a little, and if many groups come together and do a little, we would be surprised at the great work we can accomplish,” said Bruce. Cricket gear worth $100,000, including bats, pads, gloves, helmets and balls was handed over by Bruce to STETHS — many-time winners of school cricket’s rural area Headley Cup and the all-island Spaulding Cup. And following the cricket presentation, Bruce travelled to Black River where he presented a US$1,000 cheque to the Black River hospital to finance child care. In moving away from the narrow focus on a single school, Bruce said the organisation had responded largely to the ever increasing and widening sources of funding. “As we grew over the years, we realised that we have to expand because most of the people who support us don’t even know St Elizabeth. We have people providing support from all over Jamaica, Kingston, T&T, Barbados and so we realised we had to advance to another level ..,” he said. “Right now we are working on a project for Westmoreland, (and) the Ballards Valley Primary School (in St Elizabeth),” said Bruce. Acutely aware that “you can’t take on all the issues or solve all the problems”, Bruce stressed that his organisation would remain focused on education and on children. “Along the way we are going to be looking at scholarships, athletics, any area we can impact children and get them to think and expand their imagination,” he said. To ensure that projects are relevant, SAFE stays in close contact with Jamaican diplomats in New York. It was Dr Basil Bryan, Jamaica’s Consul-General in New York, who recommended the cricket gear presentation to STETHS. Bryan was represented at the presentations (in a personal capacity) by Charles Simpson of Wilco Sports through whom the cricket gear was purchased. Bruce claims his group also understands that losing touch at the community level in Jamaica can easily undermine the very effort to help. The answer, he says, is to be in constant contact with “friends” and local advisers in order to identify the areas of greatest need. One such person is St Elizabeth businessman Evon Redman, who also witnessed the recent presentations. SAFE, which raises most of its funds from a year-end dinner and dance, has gone through the process of becoming “a fully nonprofit agency in America”, which has added to its sense of transparency and accountability. “We have gotten our tax papers together and the approvals, so whatever our membership and friends contribute, is now tax deductible,” said Bruce. “We have to account to the (US) government every year for the money we collect. We find also that people are concerned that there are so many people collecting money and they can’t account, so we want to make sure whatever we do is done correctly and efficiently,” he said. — myersg@jamaicaobserver.com

Helene Gayle Appointed President and CEO of CARE USA

(12/07/05) Atlanta-based CARE USA ( http://careusa.org/ ) has announced the appointment of Helene Gayle, a senior executive with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as its new president and CEO. Gayle, who will officially assume the post in spring 2006, when CARE's current CEO, Peter D. Bell, steps down after more than a decade of service, will become the first woman and the first person of color to lead the international anti-poverty organization in its sixty-year history. As director of the Seattle-based Gates Foundation's HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health program, Gayle has overseen a portfolio of approximately $1.5 billion in grants. Under her leadership, the foundation expanded its support for HIV and TB prevention, treatment, and research programs, and developed a strategy to improve global access to reproductive health. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation in 2001, Gayle worked for nearly twenty years at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where, as the director of CDC's National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, she oversaw programs with a combined annual budget of more than $1 billion. She also studied
internationally, evaluated and implemented child survival programs in Africa, and worked on HIV/AIDS research, programs, and policy. Gayle currently serves as co-chair of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, an alliance dedicated to accelerating HIV/AIDS vaccine research, and of the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, an international panel of HIV/AIDS experts; sits on the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; and is president of the International AIDS Society. "I am deeply honored to be asked to lead this incredible organization," said Gayle in a statement. "From post-WWII \'CARE Packages,\' to emergency relief, to fighting HIV/AIDS, gender inequity, and poverty overall, CARE has been there to make a difference in people\'s lives and to be a force for social justice."

"CARE Board Names Dr. Helene Gayle as New President/CEO." CARE USA Press Release 12/02/05. "Dr. Helene Gayle to Head CARE USA." Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Press Release 12/02/05. http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/5002254/story