KINGSTON, Jamaica — Approximately J$20 million has been allocated to the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) over five years as part of efforts to provide a ‘proactive and coordinated response to HIV’.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the groups today.

Caribbean Regional Director of the AHF, Dr Kevin Harvey who was speaking at the signing says the agreement is part of the AHF’s commitment towards ending HIV in Jamaica.

“Under this agreement the AHF and the Jamaica Council of Churches will be working together to provide capacity building through training and support in policy development for faith based leaders in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” Dr Harvey explained.

Meanwhile, Bureau Chief for AHF Southern California, Caribbean, South and Central America, Michael Kahane, who also participated in the signing of the MoU said he is “pleased to work with the Jamaica Council of Churches especially as it relates to reducing and eventually eliminating stigma and discrimination. This is an example of how Jamaica is leading in the fight against HIV.”

The partnership with the JCC will focus on leadership development, training, as well as policy development and implementation by building the capacity of religious leaders to ultimately effect changes in their organisations and other institutions.

General Secretary of the JCC, Rev Gary Harriott says the partnership was essential to filling the gaps that currently exists. He added that the Faith based steering committee did a mapping exercise among the members of the faith based community. “We discovered that everyone was involved in the fight against HIV at some level. However there were gaps especially in the area of policy development. This partnership will therefore assist to fill those gaps and advance the recommendations from the mapping exercise that we conducted.”