The Ministry of Health is currently conducting HIV vaccine trails in Jamaica. The trials are being administered by the Epidemiology Research and Training Unit at the Compre-hensive Clinic on Slipe Pen Road in Kingston. Dr. Peter Figueroa, who heads the unit, has maintained that volunteers will not become infected with the HIV virus from the vaccine. Approximately 12 volunteers have already received HIV vaccines as part of the trials and The Sunday Gleanerhas for the past four weeks been carrying excerpts from the diary of one of the volunteers, Oniela 32-year-old father of two children, as well as information about the trials. Now two women who are in the screening phase of the trial, open up their diaries for us to read.

Yvette, a 38-year-old store clerk, the mother of one child, said she found out about the HIV vaccine trial via the media.

"I read about the HIV Vaccine trial in a newspaper and I also heard about it over the air. I volunteered because I had promised God that I would help some one I don't know someday. So when this opportunity came up, I was moved to act. I saw where I could be helping so many people and it did not require any resources. HIV and AIDS is out of control and since the vaccine is our hope of controlling the disease, I want to help the process. It is not like I can do an awful lot otherwise!

"I have told only my boyfriend and he was not happy about it. He was encouraging me to do something else ... anything else to help. But when he suggested joining an education team and doing HIV/AIDS public education instead, I told him no. There are a lot of people out there who are helping in that way, but there are not as many people volunteering for the HIV vaccine trials. So I wanted to help out where the need was greatest."

"Before I actually visited the Comprehensive Clinic, I figured that the process would be basic. That all they would do was just get some information on us the volunteers. I thought anyone who came forward would be accepted. Then I discovered that it was a long, detailed and thorough process with a number of procedures to ensure that you were really eligible. The informed consent process was quite good ensuring that there was nothing you didn't understand. What was also important to me was how the staff treated us. They are very pleasant. I am the kind of person where if they were not like that I would not have gone back."

Forty-nine year old Maria, who is the mother of two children and a teacher at a prominent Kingston high school, is also a HIV vaccine trial volunteer. Like Yvette, she also said that she heard about the vaccine trials through the media.

"I read about the HIV Vaccine trial in perhaps the very first newspaper article. When I called I was told by the staff at the clinic that they were not yet ready, that they were just setting up so I was early."

"I volunteered because I realize that HIV is a pandemic for which we need to find a solution somehow. Because of my involvement in the Red Cross, I know a lot of people who are HIV positive. When they tell me how they became infected with the virus, I realized how easy it is for anyone to catch this disease or pass it on without even knowing. So my decision is the sum total of these things. I can't sit and wait for some one else to contribute to a solution; I have to play my part.

"When I told all my siblings, my friends and coworkers about my decision to participate in the HIV vaccine trials, most of them tried to discourage me. They said they would never do it. Some one asked me if I want to be a martyr. A martyr?....I don't look at it that way, I just see myself doing something that is going to benefit people all over. One incident that stands out was when some of my coworkers pretend to be looking around the office for something and say I have lost a screw so they are looking for it. It would have been nice to have everyone's support."

Name changed to protect indentity.

Who can volunteer for HIV vaccine trials?

Persons who are: