THE health ministry is hoping to reach more Jamaicans with its message about HIV/AIDS this year following increased funding to help in its fight against the deadly sexual disease.

The Global Fund, the ministry said, recently pledged a grant of US$23 million to assist Jamaica in its fight against HIV/AIDS, over the next five years.

The ministry said the educational campaigns will be aimed at changing the behaviour of high-risk persons, namely young men and women, people living in depressed areas, commercial sex workers and homosexuals.

Yitades Gebre, senior medical officer/executive director of Jamaica HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project told JIS News that the country had already received US$2.3 million of the grant, with a projected US$3.9 million to be disbursed this year. A sum of US$3.5 million will follow in the year 2006.

The grant, the ministry said, will be used to educate the public, provide treatment and preventive measures, as well as to implement a national policy to address issues relating to the HIV/AIDS.

“Because of stigma and discrimination having to do with HIV and AIDS, people may not access services which may be life-saving for them. One of the assumptions in the earlier days was that once treatment is available then the stigma and discrimination may decline, but stigma and discrimination still exist,” Dr Gebre said.

“We are trying to address and reduce this problem by providing educational campaigns, including the necessary supporting mechanism and legislation to reduce stigma and discrimination,” he added.

According to statistics from the National HIV/STD Prevention and Control Programme, 578 new AIDS cases were reported in Jamaica between January and June last year. Of this figure, 334 are males and 244 females.

Dr Gebre said that about 1.5 per cent of the adult population is HIV positive, with 12 to 14 deaths being reported each week.

He said that close to 70 per cent of the transmission is from heterosexual encounters; bisexual and homosexual transmission is about six per cent, while 6 -7 per cent is from mother to child.

In the meantime, the ministry official said that for the first time in 2004, there was a significant decline, at least 27 per cent, in the number of persons dying from AIDS. This reduction, he said, was as a result of the ministry’s Public Access Programme, which provided expensive anti-retroviral drugs and certain tests at a much lower cost.

Medications and tests, usually considered to be out of the reach of most patients, have become more affordable and accessible through the Public Access Programme, he said.

Dr Gebre explained that since June last year, persons who experienced severe financial difficulties had been able to access the service free of cost, while for others, the cost was subsidised.

“The most important reason for the decline in AIDS death is the availability of anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV and AIDS. So many more persons are on treatment in 2004, compared to the previous years,” Dr Gebre pointed out.

There are now 500 patients enrolled in the programme, and Dr Gebre said plans are in place to have that number increased to 1,000 by this year. Donations from Lasco and the Clinton Foundation, he said, have helped in the provision of medication for these people.

The Ministry of Health has been collaborating with several other ministries in dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. These include the Ministries of Education, Labour, Security, Tourism and Local Government.

Other funding agencies such as the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United Nations Global Programme on AIDS, the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), have played significant roles in the development and implementation of prevention programmes.