Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
MARIA IS a self-described lesbian infected with the HIV virus since 1997.
She had achieved a curious sort of "middle class" designation through profits from prostitution, but now dances on the edge between poverty and self-sufficiency.
The problem is, Maria knows her survival is linked to economics, the more money she has the more medication she will be able to afford and the longer she will live.
So she continues to "work", locked into a race against time, trapped on a nightmare carousel from which she will not be able to disembark.
"I am amazed at how she has been able to survive for the past three years," said Father Raymond de la Cruz of the Missionaries of the Poor.
Others are not quite as fortunate. According to information released from the National HIV/STD Prevention and Control programme, an average of 12 persons died of AIDS each week between January and June this year.
With a mortality rate here that is rising, even as the AIDS-related deaths fall in the United States and Europe, brute economics is the crucial decider for many Jamaicans between quick death and a regimented, drug-dependent existence with the HIV/AIDS disease.
"If we have better care for persons living with HIV, then their survival could be prolonged and the mortality rate reduced," said Dr. Yitades Gebre, director of the National HIV/AIDS Control Programme in the Ministry of Health. "The treatment reduces hospital admissions, persons living with HIV are healthier, and continue to produce in society."
Average cost
According to the Ministry of Health, there have been 2,819 AIDS-related deaths since 1982, and there are more than 10,000 Jamaicans living with HIV. In 1998, $15 million was spent to treat infections resulting from AIDS, Dr. Gebre said.
"We use a combination of drugs, a cocktail, which contains various drugs that act differently at different sites...," he said. "But the best combination is dependent on the needs of the patient."
The average cost of combination therapy is $23,000 to $35,000 monthly. However, overwhelmed by the circumstances, organisations like the Lord's Place can only inter the victims. At the Lord's Place, between 12 to 15 persons die each month of AIDS.
"We offer the minimum type of drugs in terms of antibiotics but we can't do more than just care for them until they die. We have a really high turnover of patients," Father de la Cruz said.
"If they could afford the medication, they would live longer. A lot of the deaths are symptom-related, and if they had the medication, they may still have been alive today, but most can't afford the prohibitive costs."
Still, some hang on. There are tales of persons who have lived as long as two years with AIDS at the Lord's Place, which can house as many as 43 patients in double bunks.
At the 16-bed Jamaica AIDS Hospice (JAH) on Osbourne Road in St. Andrew, there is an average of one mortality per month.
"Economics plays a crucial role in the treatment of HIV, those with no money to access the treatment available are at a distinct disadvantage. The treatment can cost about $30,000 per month," said Ian McKnight, JAH's executive director.
