 Welcome to Nation Beat. I am Lisa Joseph bringing you this brief on the pulse of our nation and highlights around the heart of St. Lucia. The OACS Commission retues its public awareness campaign for more effective fight against HIV AIDS. The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute celebrates more than four decades of service to the region. And major productions are planned for the 40th anniversary of the island's independence. Combating HIV AIDS in St. Lucia and the rest of the OACS has taken on a more centered approach with the OACS Commission retooling the public awareness campaign. The Commission is heightening HIV awareness and advocacy in conjunction with civil society organizations and various ministries of health. More from Anisa Antoine. In commemoration of World AIDS Day 2018, the OACS released a series of public service announcements on HIV awareness and advocacy. World AIDS Day was observed on the 1st of December under the theme, Know Your Status. The OACS HIV TB Elimination Project Coordinator, Dr. Cleo First-Dovey, said that this was an opportunity for all citizens across the OACS to join in a worldwide movement to unite in the fight against HIV. Know your status. Know your status is important because it's part of the UNA's 1999 treatment cascade. For the OACS, we've done quite a bit of work in achieving these goals. We're currently at 80% of persons knowing their status, 48% of patients being placed on your therapy and 48% having full viral suppression. So we are more or less as a loot in achieving those targets and knowing your status is an important part of this. Dr. Dovey stated that the global community should play their part in encouraging education at a grassroots level where all the difference can be made. So the OACS continues to have challenges in terms of the response to HIV and some of those challenges include the continued stigma and discrimination faced by persons living with HIV. Furthermore, lots of forward patients dropping out of care, treatment and care. We also have some level of difficulty in terms of a multi-sector approach in terms of data collection and there needs to be a greater focus on the youth, targeted interventions for the youth because for the region we see a slight increase in the incidence of HIV, new infections of HIV for the youth. Dr. Cleo first Dovey stated that the OACS has been making strides to overcome some of those challenges by introducing new technology for faster diagnosis of HIV as well as identifying key at-risk populations. From the Government Information Service, I am Manisha Anjuan reporting. The Caribbean Science Foundation has announced plans to establish computer coding workshops in St. Lucia. As we hear from Chris Satney, a team from the Caribbean Science Foundation was on island recently to lay the groundwork ahead of the start of the program in January 2019. The goals of the CSF computer coding workshops are to stimulate more student interest in science and engineering careers, especially computer science, and to help prepare students for university study in the STEM disciplines in general. Adjunct Program Manager of the Caribbean Science Foundation, Gillian Hassell, says the first of multiple workshops in St. Lucia will take place every Saturday from 9am to 12 noon between January 12th and March 30th 2019 at the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School and will culminate in a public showcase by the participants on March 30th 2019. It's quite a long commitment, it's 12 weeks so we're requiring that the participants are committed to this initiative but we expect that when we finish with that that they will be able to offer themselves up to industry to either design websites or to create mobile apps that will be of benefit to the country. Professor Cardinal Ward, who is the Interim Executive Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation, says the CSF is excited to assist St. Lucia with the diversification of its economy by harnessing science and technology for economic development, thereby helping to raise its standard of living. The goal is to take these the brightest in the Caribbean and help them to prepare to go to the University of their choice and we encourage them to stay in science and engineering because engineers create more jobs in doctors and lawyers which is where most of bright young people go and we think that to build this economic pillar to start building this new economic pillar for the region we have to also encourage more technology companies to come into the region and also encourage our people to become entrepreneurs some of them who who have that in their veins. The CSF which is headquartered at the Cable Campus of the University of the West Indies Barbados is undertaking the training with grand support from the US Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean and the organization of Eastern Caribbean states the OACS. Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, Honorable Dr. Gail Rigabet has meantime thrown her support behind the initiative. So it is really marrying all the fancy stuff about robotics, science, e-skills, digital competencies all with the view to exciting our students when it comes to technology and leveraging technology not only for recreational purposes but also to enhance their employability and that is why I'm particularly happy with this initiative. Saint Lucian residents who are interested in a career in ICT particularly in website or mobile application development are encouraged to apply to participate in the workshop. Applicants must be Caribbean citizens over the age of 15 years out of school and at risk you individuals with disabilities, females and science and mathematics teachers. I especially encouraged to apply by visiting the website CaribbeanScience.org. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development I am Chris Satney reporting. The Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute CARDI with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture is hosting a series of activities in celebration of a major milestone began more recently. This week the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute CARDI celebrates its open day on December 5th which marks 44 years of its existence. As part of the commemorative activities CARDI is currently hosting a two-day seminar which commenced on the 4th of December at the CARDI Field Station in Larissus, then Ring. CARDI's representative in Saint Lucia, Andrea Vera, gave an insight into the seminar and what is to come as part of their celebrations. We are working with coconuts. Coconuts has been one of the major projects for CARDI between 2014 and 2018 in phase one of the project which is funded by the EU, the ACP and the ITC. So today we'll be looking at coconut production and nursery establishment and tomorrow we'll be looking at integrated pest management, germ plasms and intercropping, all to do with coconut plantations, coconut fields, coconut farms, coconut production. I would just like to invite everyone to our ceremony this Wednesday commemorating CARDI Day. It will be at the CARDI Field Station in Larissus, Dennery from 9 30 a.m. We will be showcasing our work done in 2018 focusing primarily on coconuts but we will also let you know what else we've been working on. We will also have some exhibitors showing their products on display, coconut flour, coconut soaps and cosmetics, various different confectionaries and candies. So we would like to invite everyone to come out. There will be posters. The school children are also invited. CARDI's coconut technician Kwami Adujimfi said there is a huge prospect for coconut production in St. Lucia. Coconut has a lot of benefits that people have not discovered yet and that's what this project is even aiming at, especially the value addition that people don't know. Many people think that all that coconut gives us is just the water and the jelly when we can have art and craft from it. We can have, like my colleague said earlier on, we can have things that can support a soil system and crop production and all that like servers, mulch and all of these things. So there are so many things we can get. We can get confectionaries also from it and many people don't see these things as an addition to what they can get from coconut. So yes at the moment I think that it's booming and it's going to be one of the leading crops in the country if we pay attention to it. CARDI's week of activities is being held under the theme pie co co pou la vie which English translation is coconut tree for life. From the communications unit in the ministry of agriculture, fisheries, physical planning, natural resources and cooperatives, Miguel Morris said reporting. This is Nation Beat. Major productions are planned for the 40th anniversary of the island's independence. The details are coming up. If you have to do your own spray mix for Black Sigotoga treatment, always follow the recommended safety procedures. Always wear protective gear when handling or being exposed to the fungicide or other pesticides. Use only the fungicide recommended by the Black Sigotoga management unit when the treatment is due. The required quantity of the particular fungicide recommended must be mixed with spray oil and applied at a rate of 1.5 to 2 gallons per acre. Fungicides which are not recommended or applied at the wrong time or even when the spray treatment is not done effectively can cause the fungus to become resistant to the chemical and therefore may no longer control the disease. Oil fungicide mix which has been stored for too long should not be used to treat Black Sigotoga disease. If carried out, such treatments may not be effective and can lead to poor control of the disease. Remember, before each chemical treatment for Black Sigotoga disease on your farm, first the oil fungicide mix must be re-agitated immediately before application. For more information on how to treat and control Black Sigotoga on your farm or in your backyard garden, contact the Black Sigotoga management unit at 451-5491 4515894 or email bpmu at candw.lc. This message is brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the International Cooperation and Development Fund of the Republic of China on Taiwan. Welcome back. The Government of St. Nusha is preparing to lead all St. Lucians in a year-long celebration of one of the most significant milestones in the island's history, the 40th anniversary of nationhood. The Independence Planning Committee, headed by President of the St. Nusha Senate, Honourable Jeanine Geordie McIntyre, says the occasion has been marked with input from all aspects of the society. On February 21st 2019, the eve of Independence Day, a major production has been planned. Sonia Sifli is a member of the Planning Committee. In terms of the St. Nusha story, the St. Nusha story is one which I think if we all come out and listen, we're going to see the everywhere we trace the evolution of St. Nusha from creation until contemporary society. And apart from that, we're going to be showcasing the best of St. Nusha, the best of St. Nusha in terms of music, in terms we have we're going to cover all the major genres of music, and we're going to be seeing traditional folk, calypso, soca, everyone, et cetera, et cetera, included in this evening. So hence, it will end with a fireworks display. And on Independence Day, February 22nd 2019, the traditional parade will be staged with a difference. It will be like a carnival-type parade, which will start from the VG roundabout into castries, where we're going to have 40 contingents of people, we're going to have the music trucks, we're going to have floats, we're going to have mobile displays, and it's going to encompass everything, solution. This is what we are about. We want, again, like I said, it is so wide, we're still accepting ideas from persons, groups who want to come on board. It's open to everyone. It's open to the commercial houses. All what we ask is that we will maintain the St. Nusha theme. And the year-long celebration of the island's 40th anniversary of Independence officially begins at the staging of the Festival of Lights, December 12th, 2018. A major gathering of regional and global geothermal experts will convene in St. Nusha to trot the way forward to transform the energy landscape of the OECS to deliver lower energy prices, reduce the costly dependence on imported fossil fuels, and enhance the region's efforts at climate change mitigation. The three-day roundtable dialogue and resource classification training forum opens Wednesday, 5th December 2018, at the Harbour Club in Rodney Bay, Grosally, from 9 a.m., and we'll have more on that in subsequent broadcasts. Well, that's Nation Beat. Join us next time on NTN at 7.30 p.m. with a repeat at 7.30 a.m. and on this station as we feel the pulse and heart of our community. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Nusha Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Lisa Joseph.