PANCAP’s new Director announced

THE Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) has a new director.

Dereck Anthony Springer, a public health practitioner, behavioural scientist and strategic manager now takes up the mantle succeeding Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, according to a release from the CARICOM Secretariat.

Dereck Anthony Springer

Bringing 20 years of experience in the health sector, with a focus on HIV and mental health, the director identified his immediate priority is providing leadership to create a supporting environment for eliminating stigma and discrimination and building consensus around the principles of human rights by promoting the roadmap of the PANCAP Justice for all programme. Springer stated that he looks forward to providing the dynamic and effective leadership required for re-engineering PANCAP and retooling the PANCAP Co-ordinating Unit to be responsive to the changing global HIV landscape within the milieu of health and development.

“He is a strong advocate for transformative leadership and plans to utilise persuasive public health and economic evidence to make a case for prioritising HIV and obtaining the commitment required for country ownership and shared responsibility, key elements for sustaining the region’s response towards an AIDS-free generation,” the release continued.

Springer called on the wider Partnership to join him and the PANCAP Executive Board in their resolve to deliver on the Caribbean region’s commitments to achieve the targets of the 2010 PANCAP Tenth AGM Resolution and the 2011 UN High Level Meeting, including stopping new HIV infections, keeping people alive, stopping stigma and discrimination and widening the scope of the response.

He reaffirmed his commitment to a broad-based consultative process in concluding the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework 2014-2018, which will guide the Partnership’s response and his work and lauded the involvement in and strong support of all partners, including donors and regional agencies for this inclusive process.

PANCAP was set up by regional governments in 2001 to co-ordinate the Caribbean response to HIV and AIDS.