Scotiabank branches throughout the country will be facilitating HIV counselling and testing under the 10-year Regional Testing Day (RTD) collaboration with Live Up: The Caribbean Media Alliance, Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and the Ministry of Public Health.
Testing will be done at the Carmichael Street, Robb Street, New Amsterdam and Bartica branches on Friday June 30, 2017 between 10:00 and 16:00hrs while the Parika Branch will conduct testing on Sunday July 2, 2017 between 10:00hrs and 14:00hrs. Scotiabank branches throughout most of the Caribbean will also be participating in this initiative.
RTD is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year and is aiming to test 100,000 people in the Caribbean. In 2016, over 20,000 people were tested in 20 countries at over 300 testing sites. RTD, which started as an idea by Dr. Allyson Leacock, has been organised by LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance for the last 10 years, with the support of two critical strategic partners: Scotiabank and PANCAP. Scotiabank makes their bank branches accessible so the public can be tested as easily as they do their banking business while extending hospitality to the testing and counselling teams and taking care of any external infrastructure needed at testing sites. PANCAP mobilizes all Ministries and Departments of Health who in turn provide all the Counseling and Testing Teams. The Ministries of Health provide the testing kits, expertise and resources to conduct the testing at the agreed locations. These entities continue to support the innovative and successful Public/Private Partnership Initiative Regional Testing Day jointly introduced in 2008 with six countries and 2,300 people being tested. On this important anniversary, a careful review shows that Regional Testing Day’s original goals have now been achieved: the creation of the first media – lead initiative to raise awareness and share information about HIV testing; the mobilisation of Caribbean people to be tested and to heighten public awareness and; education on the critical importance of Voluntary Counselling and Testing in preventing the spread of HIV infection; the reduction of stigma and discrimination related to HIV and AIDS (although there is still more work to be done to challenge the persistent stigma and discrimination); demonstration of the effectiveness of partnership with this initiative being a model of the power of Public-Private Partnership (PPP).