THE Ministry of Tourism has launched a media campaign to promote HIV/AIDS awareness within Jamaica’s critical tourism sector.

The campaign takes the form of a television feature as well as a number of radio advertisements, posters and other visual aids that will be disseminated to all Jamaica Tourist Board licensed entities and attractions.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said special focus has been placed on the local tourism industry as the Tourism Sector HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy, which was drafted through collaboration between the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and the Ministry of Health in 2007, provides the policy framework to combat the disease and address discrimination within the sector.

However, Bartlett said the most central part of the initiative is to be able to get all the tourism players fully on board in getting the workplace policy off the shelves.

“We will be talking to them that policy is not theory but should be practised in the halls of tourism,” Bartlett said, as he addressed the launch at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston on Thursday.

He commended the various companies within the tourism sector which have already adopted the workplace policy and have also installed condom dispensing machines on their properties.

According to Bartlett, the major objectives of the workplace policy include reducing the transmission of the disease within the sector, managing and mitigating the impact of the disease within the workplace and on the sector in general.

It also seeks to increase overall knowledge about the disease as well as provide treatment, care and support for workers living with the disease while reducing the stigma and discrimination.

With statistics showing that some 32,000 Jamaicans are currently living with the disease, half of whom do not know their status, Bartlett said this is the reason the ministry has sought to examine the prevalence of the virus within the sector, resort areas and other tourism-related regions.

“The relationship between tourism and HIV/AIDS is one that demands our full attention, not merely because our economy relies so heavily on tourism earnings, but also because the Caribbean has the second highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world,” Bartlett said

The minister, however, pointed out that despite what the figures may suggest, many studies have shown that there is no association between HIV/AIDS and tourism in a country

Dr Nicola Skyers, acting director of the national HIV/STI programme, said the tourism sector is particularly susceptible to the spread of the disease because of the high mobility of work force.

With this sector being a main economic backbone of Jamaica , Dr Skyers said “the tourism workforce is a key population which has to be protected against potential damaging effects of HIV.”

The partnership between the TPDCO and the National STI programme recognises HIV in tourism industry as a workplace issue, and as such she said emphasis was placed on prevention activities among hotel workers as well as adaptation of workplace policies.

She explained further that there has been a reduction in available funding, and as such the current TPDCo HIV programme is being funded through a $5.5-million World Bank loan.

As such, Dr Skyers emphasised the need to focus on building relationships with hotel management in getting them to adopt a HIV workplace policy.

“Now more than ever, with scarce resources, let’s partner with non-governmental and governmental to strengthen efforts rather than duplicate them,” she urged.

Meanwhile Gairy Taylor, acting executive director of the TPDCo, said while the media campaign is aimed primarily at the tourism sector it will also pervade into the general public domain.

“There can never be a more appropriate time to continue the efforts to protect and enhance the productivity of our tourism sector workers,” he said.

These efforts, he explained further, will go towards achieving the overall objectives of the Tourism Sector HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy.

This campaign, he continued, is aimed at reducing transmission of the disease in the sector, management and mitigating the impact of the disease within the workplace setting, increasing knowledge and awareness, provide treatment, care and support and reducing the stigma and discrimination attached to those living with the disease.