HIV/AIDS Consultations from May 9 to June 2

The National HIV/STI Control Programme will host a series of island wide consultations over the next four-weeks to provide information about government policy regarding HIV/AIDS and to generate feedback.
Policy Technical Officer of the National HIV/STI Control Programme, Faith Hamer, told JIS News that four consultations are to be held in the parishes of Kingston, St. Catherine, Manchester and St. James from May 9 to June 2.
The primary purpose of the meetings, she explained, was to inform the public about the National HIV/AIDS policy, “why it is being developed and how the policy will apply to members of the public.”
She noted also that the policy would incorporate the National HIV Management Policy for schools, which was approved by Parliament and the Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS, which was being drafted.
“Both these policies,” she told JIS News, “fall within the ambit of the National HIV Policy, which provides a framework for how we are going to deal with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica broadly,” she noted.
Ms. Hamer outlined the four major objectives of the National HIV policy as: providing treatment, care and support for persons living with and affected by HIV and AIDS; mitigating the socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS; and ensuring that a supportive policy and regulatory and legislative environment is in place for persons affected or living with HIV and AIDS.