On
the evening of Monday, June 6, representatives from the Society Against
Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), on behalf of the Guyana
Equality Forum (GEF), met with the Minister of Public Health, Hon. Dr.
George Norton, M.P. ahead of the United Nations High Level Meeting on
HIV (HLM), that is set to take place at the UN Headquarters in New York,
from Wednesday June 8 to Friday 10, 2016.
The GEF
representatives attending the HHLM are Miriam Edwards of the Guyana Sex
Work Coalition (GSWC) and the Caribbean Sex Workers Coalition (CSWC),
Devanand Milton of Guyana Trans United (GTU) and John Quelch of SASOD.
The three local groups led by key populations are also members of the
regional Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC).
SASOD’s Managing
Director, Joel Simpson, Projects Coordinator, John Quelch and Advocacy
and Communications Officer Schemel Patrick, attended the meeting with
the Minister Norton to discuss the important opportunities the HLM
presents for both government and civil society in the global AIDS
response, particularly as it relates to setting bold new targets for HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support, human rights and the legal
framework, young people, women and girls, key populations, financing and
investment.
