The rate of HIV/Aids infection in the region is not decreasing

The issue came up at the just-ended 18th International Aids Conference in Vienna.

Director of UN-Aids’ Caribbean programme, Ernest Massiah, has said that curbing the rate of infection of HIV and Aids in the region is not helped by attitudes towards sex and sexuality.

According to him people in the region are still not comfortable talking about sex.

The regional UNAids official has said that such attitudes, including the criminalisation of certain sexual practises, must be changed in order to successfully address the disease.

Let's talk about sex ...seriously

He also said that Caribbean was not a society yet fully comfortable speaking openly about sex and sexual behaviour.

In spite of the challenges, however, Mr Massiah said the region had made amazing strides in universal access to HIV prevention treatment and care over the last 10 years.

"It is a laurel we can hold up but it is definitely not one we need to rest on," he said.

	UNAids is quite involved in the Aids campaign in the Caribbean

It’s estimated that over 250,000 people in the Caribbean are affected by HIV/Aids.

But the rate of infection varies across the region.

For example, in the Bahamas there is an estimated three percent HIV prevalence, while in Cuba and Dominican Republic it is less than one percent.

Michele de Groulard, Senior Regional Programme Advisor with the Caribbean branch of UN-Aids told BBC Caribbean that the rates of infection in the region was about 20,000 a year, and it was not decreasing.

Mr Groulard said there were several reasons why the rate was not going down, but he emphasised that a change in attitude was the only way forward.

"The behavioural interventions that have been put in place since the beginning of the epidemic need to continue to be implemented," he said.

Frank, open discussion needed

Allyson Leacock, Director of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/Aids supports that assessment.

	CBMP on Aids: getting the message out

She also agreed that there needs to be more open, frank and serious discussions in the Caribbean about sex.

"We now have to engage people … about their perceptions about men having sex with men, sex workers, drug users etc," she told BBC Caribbean.

"All of them are populations who are at risk and who are uniquely engaged, but because of the societal discrimination we find it very difficult for some of these people to be open," she added.

UN-Aids is currently working with the regional grouping of states, Caricom, to develop model legislation and policies to address discrimination against people living with HIV and those considered at particular risk of infection.