OCHO RIOS, St Ann -- Gillian Lindsay-Nanton, the UNDP representative to Jamaica, says the discrimination against Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS and the stigma that is still attached to the disease have been taken too lightly and have contributed to the spread of the pandemic.

"Many of our citizens continue to think that this (HIV/AIDS) is a homosexual or sex worker disease, or that it only affects 'certain' persons. This is potentially devastating because we can see what happens when countries take this approach to the disease. We can look at Botswana or South Africa or Namibia... the incidence level of the disease went north of the chart," Lindsay-Nanton told Monday's official opening of a four-day UNDP workshop at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande

She contended that Jamaica has not explored the extent to which discrimination and intolerance may be hurting the country's efforts to contain the disease, which has ravaged the Caribbean region.

The Caribbean has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world, other than Sub-Saharan Africa and even with widespread under-reporting it is estimated that more than half-a-million people are living with HIV/AIDS in this region. The World Centre for Disease estimates that five young people get the disease every minute and of the 12 countries with the highest prevalence in Latin America, nine are in the Caribbean. The HIV virus affects two percent of Caribbean adults.

The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), along with other United Nations agencies, has been providing technical support to regional governments, including Jamaica, and the workshop is one of its latest initiatives. Guyana, Suriname, Barbados, St Kitts, Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago will also benefit from the programme, which has been organised to run over a five-month period at a cost of US$350,000.

Sixty participants, drawn from 17 governmental and non-governmental organisations across the island have registered for the Ocho Rios workshop. It is aimed at developing leaders' skills and capabilities in a bid to increase the speed and effectiveness in implementing HIV/AIDS strategies and programmes.

AIDS is now the leading cause of death in the Caribbean among persons aged 15 to 44, according to information released Monday by the Ministry of Health.

"But the effects of the epidemic do not end there," said Dr Michele Erica Roofe, regional technical director for the North-East Regional Health Authority in her report Monday.

"There is a significant threat to the past gains of regional and national development. With most AIDS-related deaths occurring prematurely in the fourth decade of life, our potentially economically active and protective labour force is slowly dwindling," she continued.

She added that in addition to citizens' health, the tourism and trade sectors are also affected, with the potential for increasing levels of poverty.

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