HIV/AIDS stigma preventing persons from seeking treatment - JASL

Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) has said stigma against persons living with HIV/AIDS is one of the reasons for individuals not seeking treatment.
  
The United Nations Special Envoy on HIV to the Caribbean has reported that less than 50 per cent of people with HIV in the region are receiving treatment.
  
Cuba has the highest coverage with 67 per cent and Jamaica the lowest with 32 per cent.
  
Kandasi Levermore, Executive Director of Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, said treatment is widely available in Jamaica but persons are shying away.
  
According to her, some persons would rather die than seek treatment because of the stigma in the health sector and communities.

"We have become sophisticated in how we discriminate against people... how we treat people, how we scoff at them, how we whisper behind their backs, how we stare people down, how we scorn people, and it's very strong," she asserted.

With continued treatment, Mrs Levermore said patients can get to a stage of viral suppression where the chance of them passing on the virus is decreased by as much as or more than 90 per cent - as efficient as the use of a condom. 

But she argued that many will not get to this stage if affected persons do not get the support they need to seek treatment in the first place.

A report by Dr. Edward Greene, United Nations Special Envoy on HIV to the Caribbean, said the major increases in HIV infections have occurred in Cuba and Jamaica. But Mrs. Levermore disagreed with the notion of an increase Jamaican cases.  

"I don't know if we can say an increase in cases because now we have 29,000 people living with HIV, and yes, we would have had some deaths, but not at the proportion which says we are seeing extremely higher cases in Jamaica. I don't think that's where Jamaica's problem is," she insisted.