History was made on Friday May 26th at the Hilton Hotel in Barbados when thirty-three (33) awards were given out to organizations and individuals from across the Caribbean who have worked tirelessly over the last ten years in support of Regional Testing Day (RTD) activities. The milestone tenth Anniversary of Regional Testing Day for HIV AIDS in the Caribbean was also launched at this glittering event.

LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance presented awards to 21 individuals and 12 organizations as part of its continued promotion of its unique media brand, addressing HIV and issues of human rights and social justice in the Caribbean. The awardees hailed from St. Lucia, Jamaica Belize, Haiti, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts-Nevis, Dominica and the British Virgin Islands.

In recognition of the hard work that these organizations and individuals have made over the years awards were made in the following categories: The Public/Private Partnership Award went to Scotiabank in recognition of its philanthropic commitment to eliminating HIV from the public health landscape and to the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) for successfully mobilising Regional Ministries and Departments of Health ensuring the success of Regional Testing day over the last ten years.

The NGO Partnership Award was presented to the Barbados Evangelical Association (BEA) for being steadfast in support of Regional Testing Day with 400 congregations and over 50,000 members making their churches available as testing sites. The AIDS Action Foundation in St. Lucia also received an award in this category for promoting greater sensitivity towards Key Populations in prevention efforts via testing and partnering with media to promote and support Regional Testing Day. The final recipient in this category was the Greater Involvement of People living with AIDS (GIPA) and its national response coordinator Ainsley Reid who has been the Caribbean face and voice of HIV AIDS epidemic.

The Belize National AIDS Commission and the Barbados Ministry of Health (MoH) were the recipients of the Innovative Outreach Award for the innovative approaches they have taken to the promotion of Regional Testing Day in their countries.

The Teamwork Award went to the Antigua National AIDS Secretariat and its Programme Manager Delcora Williams for being the first OECS country to host the Regional launch of RTD led by their Governor-General, Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the middle of a General Election and televised in a live 3-hour broadcast.
The Most Outstanding Award was given to Haiti and Trinidad Tobago for having recorded outstanding numbers of people being tested. Haiti’s Soeurette Policar, ODELPHA, has worked tirelessly to ensure Haitians know their HIV status. Last year over 4000 people were tested in Haiti. Dr. Ayanna Sebro, accepted the award on behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago HIV/AIDS Coordinating Unit which has been responsible for recording of the highest number of testing locations.

Allison Samuel of the Dominica National HIV/AIDS Response Programme and Gardenia Destang- Richardson of the St. Kitts National AIDS Programme walked away with the Most Improved Award for their continuously improved efforts in promoting Regional Testing Day in their countries.

The Most Committed Media Award was presented to Glen Simon in St. Lucia, Cromwell Smith (Edju En Ka), JTV Ch 55 in the British Virgin Islands, Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Barbados, STARCOM Barbados and the Regional multimedia organization
Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

Two pioneers of the Regional Testing Day Movement Marcelle Greenidge and Stephen Cozier of Barbados received the LIVE UP Appreciation Awards for their efforts in launching Regional Testing Day in 2008
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The Scotiabank Leadership Award was presented to staffers Joylene Griffiths-Irving in Jamaica and Lorraine Perry in Antigua. Mrs. Griffiths-Irving gets the job done and finds solutions in the greatest challenges while Mrs. Perry pays attention to detail that is reflected in her hallmark of excellence.

The LIVE UP Loyalty & Support Award was presented to AcuteVision Inc out Barbados, HAMA Productions of Antigua and Barbuda and TV Antilles in recognition for their impressive commitment to task and loyalty to LIVE UP.

The 10th anniversary Regional Testing Day will be on June 30th and is preceded by a one month campaign to raise public awareness. The campaign will include interviews on Radio and TV stations across the region and PSAs anchored by the popular local jingle which has been refreshed and remixed by overwhelming request, with Bajan talent in LIVE UP Champions: Biggie Irie, a Groovy Soca Monarch, Mahalia Cummins from the dynamic Bajan band Two Mile Hill, and Tamara Marshall formerly with Spice Band.

The target for the RTD 10th anniversary in 2017 is a total of one hundred thousand (100,000) people in the Caribbean tested over 10 years of RTD. In 2016, over twenty thousand (20,000) people were tested in 20 countries. Regional Testing Day has been organised by LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance for the last ten years, with the support of strategic partners Scotiabank, PANCAP, Ministries and Departments of Health and National AIDS Programmes (NAPs).
These entities continue to support the innovative and successful Public/Private Partnership Initiative Regional Testing Day jointly introduced in 2008. The LIVE UP Campaign has become a regional movement and achieved one of the most important health and humanitarian goals ever established across our countries in the region. Member broadcasters have contributed by donating free airtime to messaging and programming, which fall under the “LIVE UP” banner. An estimated US$25 Million has been contributed in annual airtime so far.
The impact of media support in general as well as Social Media on the RTD campaign has proven beneficial with the Facebook data collected from our LIVE UP Facebook Page showing the use of social media by younger audiences to get information about Regional Testing Day.

ABOUT SCOTIABANK
Scotiabank has been in the Caribbean and Central America since 1889, operating in 25 countries through nearly 370 branches and has a staff of about 10,160 people serving more than two million customers. Scotiabank is committed to supporting the well-being of communities in which it operates. Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for its charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2007 the Bank provided more than $43 million in sponsorships and donations to a variety of projects and initiatives, primarily in the areas of healthcare, education, social services, the arts and culture. Please visit them at www.scotiabank.com.

ABOUT LIVE UP: THE CARIBBEAN MEDIA ALLIANCE
The genesis of LIVE UP was a Global Media AIDS Initiative established in 2004 by then UN Secretary General His Excellency Kofi Annan, UNAIDS, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation to leverage the power of the world’s media to share information on HIV, reduce stigma and discrimination and ultimately change behaviour. With initial 6-year funding support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Ford Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation, the Caribbean partnership (CBMP) was launched in 2006 with 30 top broadcasters. The LIVE UP Campaign was launched at ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007.
After the first 6 years of HIV/AIDS public education campaigns and programmes, specific project funding from the Global Fund, PEPFAR, PSI/Caribbean, UNESCO, UNAIDS, UN Women, UNFPA and The Maria Holder Memorial Trust enabled LIVE UP in recent years to add even more to our creative and innovative Caribbean campaigns. For the past ten years, LIVE UP has been the only media-led campaign on HIV/AIDS to reach across the entire Caribbean.
It has expanded from 30 to 112 broadcasters (television and radio) from 24 countries that we trained to create accurate and sensitive programming on HIV, Key Populations, Gender Violence, Human Trafficking and Stigma and Discrimination. It is the region’s first coordinated media response that developed into a movement, training more than 2000 broadcasters, producing hundreds of Public Service Campaigns and other radio and TV magazine and feature programmes. The LIVE UP coordinated campaign has changed the Caribbean health promotion and media landscape and made a significant contribution to the HIV response in the region.
With this expansion, the LIVE UP partnership has now evolved into LIVE UP: The Caribbean Media Alliance (LIVE UP), Registered Charity #1282. The health and social justice issues being addressed by LIVE UP will continue to grow in keeping with the needs of our small developing nations of the Caribbean. LIVE UP will continue to be the unique media brand, addressing HIV and issues of human rights and social justice to reduce pervasive stigma and discrimination in our Caribbean region.
The objective is to embolden prevention efforts and reduce all stigma and discrimination throughout the Caribbean. We all can Love, Protect and Respect each other, people with disabilities, the elderly and our environment and create a better life for all in the region. LIVE UP remains committed to saving lives and making a difference while training media members to be catalysts for change. For more information, visit www.iliveup.info and the LIVE UP Facebook page.