The OECS Commission has partnered with the Pan American Health Organization and the Global Fund to implement a program aimed at eliminating tuberculosis and HIV in the Eastern Caribbean.

The US $5 million TB/HIV project funded by the Global Fund will operate in six participating OECS Member States: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint-Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada with outcomes and lessons learnt being applied to other Member States.

Representatives of the countries recently convened to provide an update on project’s progress to stakeholders.

Dr. Cleophas d’Auvergne, Project Coordinator of the HIV/TB Elimination Project at the OECS Commission introduced newly developed regional TB/HIV Clinical Guidelines.

“This particular workshop is one to present the newly developed OECS TB/HIV Clinical Guidelines to be endorsed by the Member States as a document that can be used as a model for others,” he said. “We also aimed to finalize the TB elimination plans of countries, as well as to agree on specific implementation activities for 2018.”

The guidelines aim at harmonizing the processes of prevention, control and treatment of tuberculosis and HIV among all the participating countries.

Dr. Davy, Clinical Care Coordinator for TB/HIV in Saint-Vincent and the Grenadines explained that the guidelines are prominent for medical practitioners.

“The project allows us to concentrate our efforts on major improvements to elimination efforts,” he said, noting that in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an average of seven cases of tuberculosis were recorded annually within the state.