Hi Everyone,

Thought I post a very unusually topic. Please have your says.


It is said that 1.5 percent of the adult population living in Jamaica are estimated to be HIV- positive and a further fifty four percent are reported to have AIDS. In addition, high-risk- groups are more vulnerable as they tend to stay in close door in fair of being neglect by their families & community. [NOTE: the 54% statistic is not completely accurate. See the posting by Caution below for explanation - TBNet]

Is HIV not a normal disease like many others?. Or is it a lack of knowledge about the disease that causes such stigma?.

Factors of HIV.

Women & men having unprotected intercourse with multi partners.

Drug users using the same needle intravenously .

Through blood transfusion.

Hmmm, 54% of who or what group? Please share with us where you got these statistics.

Be very careful with those stats!

The following information on HIV/ AIDS in Jamaica was taken from the USAID website. Please note the context in which 54% is cited.


"With 1.5 percent of the adult population estimated to be HIV-positive and no significant change over the last five years, Jamaica appears to have stabilized its HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, recent data from high-risk groups suggest that at least 9 percent of commercial sex workers and 20 to 30 percent of men who have sex with men are estimated to be HIV-positive. Men and women aged 20 to 39 account for 54 percent of reported AIDS cases in Jamaica."

For the full article, you can follow the link below:

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/lac/jamaica.html

You can take note as well of the statistics provided by the National Aids Committee of Jamaica:

http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/global?page=cr02-jm-00


This is too serious a matter to be treated lightly. Statistics must be properly cited and used.

Be very careful with those stats!

Thank you so very much caution.

I think they mean 54% of the 1.5%.

"Men and women aged 20 to 39 account for 54 percent of reported AIDS cases in Jamaica."

So in other words 54% of the reported cases of AIDS in Jamaica are men and women aged 20 - 39.

So as an example, if there were 100 reported cases 54 out of that 100 would be a man or woman aged 20 - 39.

Hope this makes it more clear

The 1.5% actually represents a decrease in cases from when I first started visiting JA several years ago. The fact that the percentage hasn't increased is very good, would seem to point, as the report says, to Jamaica doing a good job at stabilizing the rate of infection, which I hope is a result of increased awareness and better education about transmission.

Pleas just go to your doctors and take care of yourselves. AIDS can happen to anyone even if you are locked in a room for a year with no way out but, your husband/wife, girlfriend/boyfriend is living a reckless life by having unprotected sex and therefore putting your life in jeopardy.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Keep faithful to each other and save your life. If you have children think of them loosing you at an early age and then having to struggle to survive on their own.
YOU HAVE A BRAIN USE IT.

I am very scared of HIV/AIDS,I also have close relatives and friends who have died from AIDS. Some people still think HIV/AIDS is a joke , so they go around having unprotected sex with strangers. We all have to practice SAFE SEX. I have to say this if I know that someone (close friends) have AIDS I dont really want them near me. That is my opinion.

I did sent an apology to the webmaster at Treasure Beach. Net in regards to the misused of the statistics as well as asked that the post be removed. In addition, I did not receive a reply so I am writing to clarify the confusing post.

What I intended to say was of the 1.5% of the ADULT population 54% aged (20-39) are reported to have AIDS (USAID, 2009). As reported in the USAID 2009, which stated that “Men and women aged 20 to 39 account for 54 percent of reported AIDS cases in Jamaica”(USAID, 2009).


I hope this settle the confusion, although intentionally that was not the mode.



Usaid, (2009).Usaid from the American people. HIV/Aids. Available at :http www.usaid.gov.

I can't belive that anyone in this world is not educated re AIDS and HIV. You cannot contract aids by sleeping in the same bed with someone or sitting next to or to associate with someone with HIV/AIDS. AIDS is contracted through unprotected sex, blood transfusion or sharing needles with a drug user. Gone were the days when people were afraid of someone who is an AIDS victim. Safest sex means abstenance (not having sex at all).

HIV/Aids can only be transimitted through the mixing of sexual fluids or blood transfusions. Theres no need to worry if someone with ths virus is near you. They are still human and need as much love as anyone else.

You can get HIV/AIDS having unprotected sex with someone who is NOT a stranger. Unless you are 100% sure your sex partner NEVER had sex with anyone else, use protection until you both get tested in a medical lab. That goes for husbands and wives too; no one is immune. No one.

Scared is another load on us Observer.

I would have hoped by now there would be test kits available in pharmacies. Maybe they are, things move so fast.

I understand your fear of infection from being near someone with AIDS. Study the ways that you can get infected, be sensible and at least write your close friend about your fear. It must be a hell to be isolated.

Also study the current treatments, many live a long, quality life with the virus.

FYI, Nordia we would have liked to have contacted you but no email address was provided.

REf: Stigma & Discrimination against individuals living with HIV in Jamaica.

To the Webmaster@treasurebeach.net

My apologies for the misused of data on the subject posted. Would it be possible to remove the post?

Many Thanks.


Nordia Campbell

Observer are you serious or just deliberately stoking controversy? Your comment that "...I don't really want them near me" seems rather odd considering what is now known about contracting and spreading the disease.

As a follow up, we decided that since the thread already had several postings to it that we should leave it in place and post the reply from Nordia.

Sorry it took a while for the explanation, but both Rebecca and I have been very busy the last couple days.

-TBNet

I put my feelings and opinion on HIV/AIDS and I will stand by it.

Treasurebeach.net, thanks for the clarification. My bad in not providing a contact details.

Have a wonderful week.

Observer, you said:

"I have to say this if I know that someone (close friends) have AIDS I dont really want them near me. That is my opinion."

PLEASE understand if someone has HIV/AIDS you cannot catch it by giving them a hug or rubbing their back. In fact, many who have this disease are made to feel like outcasts because others shy away from them. They long for human touch, and that makes them feel much better WITH NO DANGER WHATSOEVER from whoever is compassionate enough to understand.

The main ways HIV/AIDS is contracted is by having unprotected sex with someone who is infected, by getting a blood transfusion with blood from a person who has HIV/AIDS (though almost all blood is tested for this now),or by using unclean needles that were used by a person with HIV/AIDS. It can also be passed on from a mother who is infected to her baby; this can occur during pregnancy, at birth and through breastfeeding.

It comes from exchanging bodily fluids, not from being close and decent to someone when they need you the very most.

There is a serious lack of education about HIV and AIDS in Jamaica, including Treasure Beach.

Let us not forget this is a country where some people believe that having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS.

I have witnessed first-hand the ignorance which includes beliefs that...

(ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE NOT TRUE)

AIDS can be transmitted by mosquitos

Someone with AIDS can give it to you by cooking your food

You should stay away from people with AIDS because they do not know all the ways it spreads

The three above statements were made by an otherwise fairly educated person in Treasure Beach who cannot be convinced otherwise. The sad thing is that this person is passing this information on to his children.

I have personally spoken to Ms.Zane regarding HIV education in our schools, as our children deserve the truth, certainly they receive alot of false information from the community which unfortunately can include their parents in some cases.