Jamaica: Resources/support services available to Jamaicans with HIV

The following information was provided by the executive director of Jamaica AIDS Support (JAS), a non-governmental organization that provides shelter and counselling for HIV-infected persons (10 July 2000). 

JAS is one of two NGOs that provide support services to HIV-infected persons in Jamaica. One of its major activities is public education and consciousness raising. It provides education programs to schools, churches, youth clubs, police, service groups, corporate bodies and other groups. In 1992 it opened a 12-bed hospice that provides services to those living with HIV and AIDS. Hospice residents are provided with meals, counselling, medical attention and other care. JAS also has a home-based care program for people who either cannot be accommodated at the hospice or who choose to stay at home. It also provides family members of HIV/AIDS patients with support, care, nursing and advice on issues concerning death and dying. JAS has outreach programmes that provide, information, education, counselling and support to the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities and high-risk groups such as commercial sex workers.

Jamaica's other AIDS NGO, which operates out of the university hospital, provides services similar to those of JAS, but without the residential service. The executive director stated that the hospice run by JAS may face closure because funding from the Dutch government, which has supported the program since 1998, will soon run out.

The executive director stated that most HIV-infected people obtain their support services from the government, which operates several programs. However, the treatment obtained by the vast majority of HIV-infected people is very limited, primarily because of the high cost of drug treatments. The government does not subsidize the cost of drug treatment programs, and there is no plan to do so in the foreseeable future. Given the cost of the drug therapies, such a program would not be viable given the current fiscal and budgetary realities facing the government (ibid.). In a 3 July 2000 report in the Jamaica Gleaner the director of the National HIV/AIDS Prevention Program stated that the dual drug therapy program would cost $240 million per year, and the more effective triple therapy $360 million, sums he felt would be difficult to request given the government's $400 million budget for all pharmaceuticals and sundries. The program director agreed that AIDS patients admitted to public hospitals are treated only for "opportunistic" or HIV-related diseases, and that 95 per cent of AIDS patients cannot afford the cost of drug therapies (ibid.).

Another problem facing HIV-infected people is the stigma attached to the disease (10 July 2000). Such people are often seen as homosexuals, according to the executive director. JAS and the Jamaican government have been working to raise public awareness about issues surrounding the disease. According to the executive director there has been a marked improvement in public attitudes toward people infected with HIV in recent years. 

The executive director stated that three or four years ago, following numerous reports that some companies were requiring compulsory AIDS tests as a precondition for employment, the National AIDS Committee (NAC), an advisory group to the Ministry of Health composed of public and private sector organizations, drafted and submitted to the government a proposal for a national policy on AIDS. It was hoped such a policy would include legislation to protect the rights of HIV-infected people, but the proposal has gone nowhere according to the executive director (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Executive Director, Jamaica AIDS Support (JAS), Kingston. 10 July 2000. Telephone interview.

Jamaica Gleaner [Kingston]. 3 July 2000. "$400m to Treat AIDS Patients." [Accessed 10 July 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases.

World News Connection (WNC).

Internet sites including:

Jamaica Aids Support (JAS).

Jamaica Observer.

Jamaica Gleaner.

United Nations.