H.E. RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU - ADDRESS AT THE LAUNCH OF THE RESEARCH REPORT: “TREATMENT IS MY LIFE NOW”: EXPERIENCES OF TREATMENTS AMONG PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

27/06/2013


HIS EXCELLENCY RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU
CF, LVO, OBE (Mil), OStJ, CSM, MSD
President of the Republic of Fiji
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ADDRESS AT THE LAUNCH OF THE RESEARCH REPORT: “TREATMENT IS MY LIFE NOW”: EXPERIENCES OF TREATMENTS AMONG PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
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Holiday Inn Thursday, 27th June, 2013
SUVA 4.15p.m.
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 Ms. Hilary Gorman, Team Leader and Lead Researcher
 Mr Tim Rwabuhemba, Representative of the UNAIDS Office
 Members of the Research Team
 Your Excellencies the Ambassadors and High Commissioners
 Members of the Diplomatic Corps
 The Secretariat of the Pacific Community
 Representatives of the Other Organizations with interest in this HIV/Aids Report
 Distinguished Guests
 Ladies And Gentlemen

Thank you for the kind invitation for me to officially launch this research report entitled and I quote: “treatment is my life now”: experiences of treatments among people living with HIV in the pacific islands,” unquote.

Let me say at the outset that it is indeed a great honour for me to perform this most welcome, timely and specifically pacific family task.

It is also very fitting that we are launching the report today which is known internationally as World Testing Day.

I always welcome the opportunity to be associated with events that are linked to our collective quest to save lives.

Today is such an occasion, for it marks a significant milestone in this quest. We now have access to a properly documented research report detailing the experiences of our Pacific Islands people who are living with HIV and who have undergone and are continuing antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment.

The milestone, in my view, is that we now have a recorded, yet moving glimpse into the real-life experiences of our people who are living with HIV.

Suffice to say, this component was sorely missing in the past. I am confident that governments in the pacific region, when reviewing their respective strategies whilst addressing HIV and Aids in the context of MDG 6 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, will take into account the perspectives of those who have lived this life and who experienced the lows and the highs of treatment, as detailed in this report.

The report is very well written with a scientific approach documenting the experiences of people living with HIV. This scientific approach is important because it adds credibility to the report.

What I particularly like about the report is that it not only brings to the fore and emphasizes the importance of treatment but it also talks about the many challenges that people living with HIV face regularly, if not on a daily basis.

The challenges such as the side-effects of HIV treatment and the many social hardships faced by people living with HIV when trying to access treatment should now enable the health organizations and the policy makers in the region to reconsider their approach and to introduce more user-friendly and viable options when providing life-dependent treatment.
The report, for instance, suggests that many people did not know of ART treatment before they were diagnosed HIV positive.

In fact, many thought that their HIV positive status was a death sentence. And it was believed to be so, until antiretroviral drugs came along in the 1990s and reverted HIV to a chronic illness. For many of those infected by the virus, it was only after when they had agreed to be treated that they fully realized that they could live a much longer and productive life.

I am happily aware that many people living with HIV – particularly couples – while receiving ART have gone on to have healthy children and who are living normal lives.

In launching the research report this afternoon, I appeal to all Governments in the region to keep on supporting the United Nations ultimate goal of attaining the three zeros: zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero aids-related deaths.

The countdown to the Millennium Development Goals deadline is imminent.

This report could be used as a catalyst to the existing strategies and approaches to achieving the millennium development goals six, particularly now that we have intimate knowledge of the experiences of our people living with HIV.

This new-found knowledge will enable countries in the pacific to develop a more holistic approach to addressing the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS.

I believe the Pacific owe a great deal of gratitude to all those who have come out openly to talk about their experiences, without which no amount of policy strategy or resources will adequately and effectively address the real and latent issues.

This afternoon, I also appeal to the media in the Pacific to keep on helping to educate and inform the people that HIV treatment is available and that it works.

The media must continue to help in the provision of more accurate and up to date information and details of HIV treatment, care and support, thus stressing that there is a life after being tested positive to HIV.

I would like to not only fully recognize, but to also acknowledge the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) for funding this research project through the Response Fund.

In this connection, I thank in particular the Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers who in discussions about the research report said and I quote:

“The report is written from the ‘eyes of people living with HIV/AIDS as seen by the research team to whom congratulations are due. It shares the realities, struggles and hopes of people infected by the virus as seen from their interviews. It highlights the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. It provides insights into what treatment means to people with HIV and AIDS. It provides reality checks on the health systems as seen from the lens of people with HIV and AIDS, and it highlights the huge amount of work facing all of us in addressing stigma,” unquote.

I also acknowledge the then Pacific Islands Aids Foundation (PIAF), and the many regional partners in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

I congratulate the positive communities throughout the region, the peer researchers, and particularly the team leader, Hilary Gorman for implementing and having this report finalized.

I thank as well all those individuals and organizations listed in the acknowledgements section of the report for their valuable contributions.

And I wish to stress that although there is treatment, available, people in the Pacific should not be complacent – for complacency is the biggest enemy in advocacy and response. We should continue with the message – “practice safe sex: use a condom”. The catch phrase is “get it on, before you get it on”.

Thank you, vinaka vakalevu, sukria, bahoot dhanyavaad.