Barbados virtual HIV research unit provides access to Caribbean data

Barbados has launched a Virtual HIV Research Unit (VHRU) as it seeks to better understand and address issues related to HIV/AIDS.  Comprising 5,000 scientific publications and reports on HIV in Barbados and the Caribbean, the VHRU will be accessible to researchers, students, non-governmental organisations and others through the www.hivgateway.com portal.

Social Care Minister, Steve Blackett, said the establishment of the VHRU was a step in the right direction.   “Barbados continues to be on par with other developed and developing nations in its HIV information gathering, monitoring and evaluating and compiling of journals on the successes we continue to attain,” Blackett told the launch attended by various stakeholders including  Health Minister  John Boyce, and Chair of the NHAC Research Committee, Professor Clive Landis.

He said the island would “push forward” in its national response towards attaining an HIV-free generation by the year 2018.  “We know that this is an achievable goal,” he said, adding that the VHRU would also be used in other capacities.  Blackett said that the tool would assist “with the coordination of research programs of the Ministry of Health, NHAC and other relevant research pursued nationally relating to HIV in Barbados and the Caribbean”.

He said the website would complement another tech-based NHAC initiative, namely the free HIV Explained app, which is available for download on both Android and Apple platforms.  Blackett described the VHRU’s arrival as a timely one, which coincided with the beginning of government’s five-year National Strategic Plan for HIV. It aims for zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths by 2018.

During his presentation, Professor Landis said,  “this tool provides empowerment to the community for anyone who is curious about HIV and wants to know the facts and not the myths…  When I joined the NHAC as Chairman in 2011…we felt there was a clear lack of research capacity…We also noted quite significant gaps in behavioural research…and the barriers to seeking care”

He then said, “We do feel there are a lot of barriers: i.e. fear, stigma and discrimination;that are preventing persons with HIV from accessing the wonderful care that we have on the island.” Furthermore, he added that there was also a need to communicate research among peers, to the public and to translate it into policy.

Professor Landis noted that, while it was previously presumed that certain risk factors increased the likelihood of contracting HIV, the VHRU could now offer conclusive research on how ‘bashment culture’ and inter-generational sex, (sex between young girls and old men, impacted HIV infections).

He also went on to say, “In one national study, we identified high rates of inter-generational sex (in Barbados), and we are in a high income country. I think the assumption was that inter-generational sex was driven by poverty…we did not find that, even though it (the study) was carried out during a recession,” he said, adding that issues such as low self-esteem and being coerced into sex also contributed to the issue.  The HIV Gateway was created by the National HIV/AIDS Commission of Barbados, with financial assistance from the World Bank.

Source: Caribbean360