Germany To Provide $7.4 Million To Fight HIV/AIDS in Caribbean

Germany on Thursday awarded $7.4 million in grants to the Caribbean to fight HIV/AIDS, officials said, the Associated Press reports (Wilkinson, Associated Press, 12/18). The Caribbean has the world's second highest HIV prevalence rate at 2.4%, second only to sub-Saharan Africa, where the prevalence rate is 8.8% (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/1). Germany's development bank, the Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, said that it plans to direct the funds to the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS, a group of governments, business leaders and private organizations in the Caribbean Community. "We hope that (the money is) going to have an impact on reducing the risks, which are spreading," Helge Jahn, KfW director for Central America, said at a signing ceremony with the 15-member Caribbean Community Secretariat (Associated Press, 12/18).