The Trinidad & Tobago Training Centre (TTTC) was officially launched on June 22, 2007 at the UWI Telehealth Programme centre.  The centre was able to successfully initiateits first training programme in Paediatric HIV/AIDS at the UWI Telehealth facility on September 6, 13, 17 and 25, 2007.  This training programme targeted healthcare professionals and allied staff.  Twenty-four (24) healthcare professionals were trained over four training sessions.  Participants were awarded 11 Continuing Medical Education Credits from the Trinidad & Tobago Medical Association (T&TMA).

This training was one in a series to be conducted by the UWI as part of its contribution to “improved access to care, treatment and support services for PWLHAs through training, strengthening the capacity for diagnosis and treatment and promoting and supporting relevant initiatives”.  It focused on HIV/AIDS in children and in preparing selected healthcare professionals to diagnose and manage HIV/AIDS in children, assess transmission opportunities and to reduce incidence in at-risk neonates.  In this instance medical practitioners were provided with basic information on HIV infection and AIDS in children and were introduced to the clinical management of HIV/AIDS in children. HIV/AIDS in children was targeted for a number of reasons including (i) the continuing high incidence of HIV in new-borns and children who are relatively underserved (ii) advances in knowledge and treatment of HIV/AIDS in children and (iii) the need for training of professionals in this area – paediatrics, and (iv) the potential to use this programme as a model for developing other programmes for HIV/AIDS training.

The participant assessments gave the programme an overall rating of “Very Good” (67% Strongly Agreed and 27% Agreed) and requested further ongoing training.