FIGUEROA
MONTEGO BAY, CMC:
DR. PETER Figueroa, coordinator of the epidemiology and prevention programme in the Ministry of Health, is recommending that Caribbean authorities decriminalise prostitution and provide sex workers with greater access to health services, as a means of reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region.
He said once the trade is decriminalised or regularised, workers could be educated on protecting themselves from the disease.
He said the workers should have access to health services in order to protect them from police harassment and violence including rape.
The health official also wants increased intervention in the industry, with specific interventions aimed at male sex workers.
"It will not give us the whole answer but it would help," Dr. Figueroa said, while addressing the opening of a two-day meeting of the Programme coordinating Board of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
He also called for the allocation of more funds to fight the disease, a higher degree of civic and political commitment, implementation of anti-discrimination efforts such as legislation and awareness campaigns at the local and regional levels, as well as a cultural approach to combat the stigma attached to the disease.
LEADING CAUSE
HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause of death among persons in the 15 to 44 age group in the Caribbean, which ranks second to sub-Saharan Africa in infection rates.
Dr. Figueroa said that the disease had reduced life expectancy by about 15 to 20 years and countries such as Haiti, Guyana, Bahamas and the Dominican Republic are now reeling from the impact.
The cumulative data of infected persons within the Caribbean is 60 per cent males to 40 per cent females.
"You can see the steady rise in the reported AIDS cases annually and this is the challenge that we are facing," he noted.
