CASTRIES, St Lucia (AP) - Slow implementation of HIV/AIDS treatment programmes in six Caribbean countries could jeopardise US$4.1 million in grants from the Global AIDS Fund, an AIDS organisation said Saturday. St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Montserrat haven't launched treatment programmes a year after the Global Fund approved money for them, said Veronica Cenac, director of St Lucia's AIDS Action Foundation. Cenac said the funds were to be disbursed by the St Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, but the role was transferred to the St Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Secretariat three months ago. Cenac said the Secretariat had gotten bogged down by administrative wrangling, seeking to control all details associated with the grants. "The difficulty there is that the OECS Secretariat has no history or personnel with any background or training in HIV/AIDS issues," said Cenac. Approved funds that are not used can be rescinded. The Secretariat official overseeing the projects, Dr Patricia Prudent-Phillip, acknowledged difficulties in disbursing the money but said the paperwork would be completed by January. Berlynda Bady, a St Lucia representative of the Clinton HIV-AIDS Initiative, said there should be a push to launch projects quickly. "We are in an emergency situation" with AIDS in the Caribbean, said Bady. "And when you are in an emergency situation your response has to be different." The Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV infection in the world after sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 2.4 per cent of people, or 500,000 - excluding Cuba where infections rates are low - have HIV. Sub-Saharan Africa has an 8.8 per cent infection rate. SOURCE: JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM