Kathleen Fergusson-Stewart came away from the Bangkok conference with new confidence and a plan for the future

On Friday July 16, Kathleen Fergusson-Stewart left the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok with new confidence and a plan for the future.

The International Federation's HIV/AIDS officer and representative of the Red Cross Caribbean AIDS Network, said the conference had given her a new appreciation of the value of AIDS programmes in her region, which has the world's second highest rate of HIV.

"Coming here now I know that what we're doing in the Caribbean is on a par or better than what other regions are doing. I feel there are presentations we should be making here."

An example of what the Caribbean should be showcasing at international conferences is "Together We Can," a peer education programme that gives 10 to 19-year-olds the information and skills they need to make safer choices, said Fergusson-Stewart.

"Together We Can" runs in most of the Caribbean's 25 countries, and has been featured as a UNAIDS model of good practice. Fergusson-Stewart was one of only four Red Cross Red Crescent delegates from the Caribbean at the six-day conference, which broke previous records with more than 19,000 participants.

So why wasn't the Caribbean, a region of 20 million people, better represented at the Bangkok conference? Fergusson-Stewart said many programmes had not been running very long, people lacked abstract-writing skills and they lacked the strategic partners who could sponsor their trips.

She aims to change all that before the next AIDS Conference, in Toronto in 2006, which she plans to attend as one of a delegation of 20 Red Cross Red Crescent people from the Caribbean.