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Courtney Weatherburne reporting
It's hard to miss these red ribbons and "Get Tested" posters- they are everywhere. But it seems people aren't getting the message. According to yearly estimates, not many people are getting tested.

Francis Morey, Deputy Director, Health Services
"Spectrum estimates that we should have approximately 4,378 persons living with HIV in Belize. Now there is a gap in how many individuals have actually been diagnosed."

On a yearly basis for the past 5 years we have been diagnosing approximately between 220 to 240 persons being diagnosed, new cases, with HIV.

Courtney Weatherburne, reporter
"So these figures aren't very good?"

Francis Morey
"It doesn't paint a very good picture, the effort of the Ministry of Health remain the same, we have to develop new strategies either by educating the public in the need to get tested."

And in exploring those new strategies to continue educating the public, a cross section of religious leaders has joined the campaign. Today Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) along with its partners hosted a Faith Leaders consultation. All in the hope that these leaders can help in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Dereck Springer, Director, PANCAP
"We have recognized for years that it is critical to seek the active engagement and involvement of faith leaders given their influence in terms of people's attitudes and behaviors. And thus we have been working at the regional level to bring together a wide stakeholder of faith leaders and that includes Christians, the Muslims, the Hindu's , the Bahai, the Rastafarians, Voodoo priests you name it we have been working with the various denominations and groups at the regional level."

Now obviously the role of these leaders goes beyond the notion of "praying HIV/AIDS away" and goes beyond being the rigid moral compass- the idea is for these leaders to be open minded and focus on the needs and the person's specific circumstance.

Courtney Weatherburne
"This topic of HIV/AIDS even sex they are quite sensitive topics and when you think about them we know that they are even sensitive and taboo for religious leaders or the community to talk openly about. How are you all addressing these topics and the specific role you play in this overall discussion?"

Bishop Phillip Wright, Anglican Church
"Well, some of the controversies will not go away because they have strong deep religious roots and no one here is going to be attempting to have someone change their conviction, I think what we want to focus on is the individual, that individual who may come into your office and say to you "I just discovered I am positive." What do you then do? And it is about religious leaders using their influence and their authority to say to that person you need to go to the clinic. So you need not get into the whole doctrinal thing but just help that individual get the help they need so that they could hopefully live as good a life as possible for the rest of their lives. Later on I suppose you can then get into the issues of your particular faith stance, but we are trying to avoid those and focus on the individual that may need help."

Dereck Springer, Director, PANCAP
"At the end of the day what we hope to come out from here is an agreement that the faith leaders community in Belize will seek to look at how they can address stigma and discrimination, how they can provide care and support services, how they can encourage people to know their HIV status, how they can support people in those efforts because the science has now said to us we can defeat AIDS."

This is a follow up to a similar consultation session held in 2017. After this consultation, the group will come up with recommendations and an action plan to move forward.