LaTonya Linton, Gleaner WriterTHE NATIONAL HIV/STI Control Programme will be seeking to identify institutions which continue to discriminate against persons living with HIV and AIDS.
Faith Hamer, policy/advocacy technical director of the National HIV/STI Programme, announced this during a press conference at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston yesterday.
"We are currently working on the weak area of creating and setting up a mechanism for capturing reports of discrimination and accepting attitudes to persons living (with) and affected by HIV and AIDS," said Miss Hamer.
Miss Hamer added that anyone guilty of discrimination would be guilty of breaching the human rights conventions to which Jamaica is a signatory.
NO DISCRIMINATION
According to the National HIV/ AIDS policy there should be no
discrimination against workers on the basis of real or perceived HIV status. The policy further states that discrimination and stigmatisation of people living with AIDS hinders the efforts aimed at promoting HIV/AIDS
prevention.
Dr. Donald Rhodd, State Minister in the Ministry of Education Youth and Culture, also announced during yesterday's press conference that work was currently being carried out on creating legislation to support the National Policy on AIDS.
"We have been discussing this topic comprehensively in Parliament and we have sent our report and our recommendations to the Cabinet of this country," Dr. Rhodd said.
Miss Hamer also added that the rate of HIV infection in Jamaica has slowed down to a current rate of 1.5 per cent of the population.
"We need to see this rate declining. Our main problem is that risk behaviour has not changed much since 1996 in that up to a third of women and a quarter of men report that they have unprotected sex with a non-regular partner," she said.
