JAMAICA AIDS Support (JAS) will get a much needed boost when the Government today signs an agreement which will see the non-governmental organisation (NGO) being allocated $7.4 million.
In his presentation to the 2002/2003 Sectoral Debate in Parliament yesterday, Health Minister John Junor said that under the agreement, JAS, a struggling organisation which provides support for persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, will carry out a number of interventions with groups vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. JAS will also deliver care and support services for persons living with HIV/AIDS.
"We are determined not to allow HIV/AIDS to turn back development and we continue to fight to protect and promote the health of our citizens," asserted Mr. Junor.
JAS came close to shutting its doors permanently at the end of April 2002 because the organisation's funding, mostly from the Dutch Government, had ceased after six years.
The NGO is now being kept alive by more than $4 million in contributions from local companies and agencies which rushed to its rescue and a promised US$200,000 from international aid agency, UNAIDS.
The organisation has given hope and help to more than 1,500 persons living with or affected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and its spin-off, the Acquired Immune Defic-iency Syndrome (AIDS).
The JAS needs $12 million yearly to cover administrative and operational costs. In spite of contributions from organisations, the NGO has had to close two offices in Portland and St. Mary, release 65 per cent of its staff and scale back numerous programmes aimed at educating people affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS.
In September 2000, JAS was forced to close its "Life" hospice in Kingston, which housed and cared for up to 400 patients, among them children, until they died. The hospice needed at least $1 million monthly to restart and survive.
Mr. Junor's presentation also outlined health trends in Jamaica, raising concerns about the growth of non-communicable chronic illnesses and their contributing factors among them obesity and the continued socio-economic threat of HIV/AIDS, where it is estimated that by 2005, about 6.4 per cent of the Gross National Product will be spent on the AIDS epidemic.
Regarding HIV/AIDS, he noted that there has been an increase in some risk factors for being infected such as increased reports of some sexually transmitted infections (STIs). He said there has been a decline in the number of syphilis cases but this has been overshadowed by the growth in both urethral and vaginal discharge syndromes.
"As persons with sexually transmitted diseases are more prone to contracting HIV/AIDS infection, more will have to be done to encourage safer sex behaviours among the sexually active population," he said.
Health officials now estimate about 24,000 persons are infected with HIV/AIDS locally.
Mr. Junor reiterated that the Government had gotten a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance the National Strategic Plan on HIV/ AIDS.
"It was realised that that to win the against this disease and prevent erosion of gains made in development, more resources have to be dedicated to support interventions over the next five years (2002-2006)," he said.
