US Secretary of Health Tommy G Thompson, US Surgeon General Richard H Carmona and Randall Tobias, the coordinator of US government activities to combat HIV/AIDS globally, participated in the opening of the III Conference on HIV/AIDS for the United States Mission Chiefs in the Caribbean, as reported in El Caribe. During the event, Thompson urged the area’s countries to intensify their efforts. He stressed the need for certain mechanisms to be put into place and said that countries need to establish a system of accountability. He says that while the money is there, they need the cash to flow and more efficiency from the ambassadors working with the health officials and the presidents in order to sign agreements. During his visit to the DR, he participated in the signing of a US$54.26-million donation from the US government to improve health conditions in vulnerable Dominican segments of society from 2004 to 2007. This donation augments an initial donation of US$41.2 million to back efforts of the government to prevent, treat and mitigate HIV/AIDS in the country. Thompson said that of these resources, the DR has already received US$14 million to fight AIDS, and another US$2.6 million to combat tuberculosis.
Hans Hertell signed for the US and President Leonel Fernandez for the DR, while Public Health Minister Sabino Baez and Thompson acted as witnesses at the Presidential Palace.
Thompson urged the DR to convert one of its medical schools into a training facility for nurses and laboratory technicians. Furthermore, he told the Listin Diario newspaper that many nations, including the DR and the United States, fail to invest sufficiently to preventing sickness, which he says would entail great savings in the budgets needed to cure these illnesses. He described himself as a great champion in securing funds to combat HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.
Carmona, for his part, said that the US may collaborate on the construction of a second trauma hospital to reduce the mortality rate of traffic accidents. The hospital is to be erected on the Duarte Highway near San Francisco de Macoris.