Ladies Careful Who You Lickey Lickey – ‘Bun Man’ deh bout

Monday Water Cooler- Dancer bwoy gets ‘Gun’ of the butt

MALE DANCERS GET THE ‘GUN’ — OF THE ASS
Mi cousin who have a girlfriend who work at the major STI centre in Kingston told me that the other day, a very well known male dancer came in to be treated for gonorrhea — of the butt.

From the time wid the dancer at Westmoreland who claim say dem did drug him off and put him inna funny man blues, mi no truss dem bwoy de. Dem too licky licky, and dem wi do almost anything fi a Nike Air, mi have two higgler friend who love freak dem out, fly dem come a foreign and siddown inna dem face, and dem tell me say dem do it straight, but nothing no wrong wid dat, but the funny man business, mi caan excuse it. FIRE PON DEM!!!!

this is a piece about Jamaicas’ HIV/AIDS Testing-Treatment Efforts from the Jamaica Gleaner.  it’s quite informative, but I believe Abena is closer to the truth. Ladies when you go to Jamaica remember to ‘Take Your Own Boots’. Save Your Life.

The epidemic levels off – Special HIV/AIDS edition

published: Wednesday | December 3, 2008

Eulalee Thompson – BE WELL

About 68 per cent of the people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, making this the most severely affected region. This 68 per cent of the global HIV total means that this region in Africa has about 22.5 million of the 33.2 million people living with HIV in 2007.

Yet, in spite of cultural and socio-economic barriers in effecting sex-related behaviour change in Africa and Jamaica, the HIV/AIDS news has not been all gloom and doom. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the World Health Organisation reports that there were an estimated 1.7 million new HIV infections in sub-Sahar

an Africa in 2007, but this was a significant reduction since 2001. The experts are seeing a trending down in these figures; they are in fact reporting a levelling off in global HIV prevalence.

The local HIV figures released last week by the health ministry also indicate some positive changes. See the figures for the last five years extracted from the Ministry of Health’s chart on reported AIDS cases and death (1982 to 2007).

Fewer cases reported

Certainly, fewer cases of AIDS we

re reported between 2006 and 2007 (the health ministry is reporting a 30 per cent decline in AIDS cases) and there has been a trending down in the number of people dying from the disease, perhaps as a result of the aggressive heavily subsidised antiretroviral treatment programme.

In fact, elsewhere in the report, the health ministry reported a ‘decrease in AIDS deaths and cases is attributed to the introduction of public access to antiretroviral treatment in 2004, prophylaxis against opportunistic infections and improved laboratory

capacity to conduct investigations such as CD4 counts, viral load and PCRs. These factors have resulted in a general improved quality of care’.

See below another interesting extrapolation from a health ministry chart titled, Annual AIDS case rate in Jamaica, St James and Kingston and St Andrew (rate per 100,000, 1982 to 2007).

Multiple partnerships

For the five years in the chart, the AIDS case rate (the number of cases per 100,000 of population) is highest in the parish of St James, soaring above the nation

al case rate and that for Kingston and St Andrew but even these rates have been trending down except for a spike in 2005.

The real troubling issues in this latest HIV/AIDS report appears to be the propensity in the population for multiple partnerships and unstable sexual relations, the high rate of transactional sex (that is, sex inexchange for gifts and money) and the fact that so many teenagers and young people in their early 20s are having sex with much older partners, thus limiting their ability to negotiate the terms of the relationships.

On the issue of multiple partnership, 47 percent of people in the 15 to 24 year old age group report multiple partnerships and in the 25 to 49 year old age group 33 per cent reported multiple partnerships. In the total population, 61.5 per cent of men reported multiple partnerships compared to 16.8 per cent of women.A significant percentage of men who have sex with men are also having sex with women. Men on average had 5.68 partners

while women had 2.91 partners (data from the KABP Survey, 2008). The picture painted here is of a population having a lot of indiscriminate sex all over the place,cutting across age and socio-economic groups.

Multiple partnerships, the latest HIV/AIDS report indicates, continue to drive the epidemic. Other factors also contribute to spread: early initiation of sexual activity here in Jamaica; limited life skills and sex education; insufficient condom use; stig

ma and discrimination; commercial and transactional sex; substance abuse; men who have sex with men and homophobia and gender inequity and gender roles.

Other facts to note:

About 73 per cent of all AIDS cases reported in 2007 are in the 20-49 year old age group.

87 per cent of all reported AIDS cases are between 20 and 60 years old. This is similar to the breakdown for all AIDS cases reported since 1982, of which 74 per cent are in the 20 ‹ 49 year old.

Eulalee Thompson is health editor and a professional counsellor; email: eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.

Gov’t, private sector failing AIDS victims, says JHTA president
published: Wednesday | December 3, 2008

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

( L – R ) Cummings, Chen

WESTERN BUREAU:

President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Wayne Cummings, has classified some of the country’s private- and public-sector leaders as “uninformed” for proposing to test and screen the workforce for HIV/AIDS.

Speaking at the unveiling of the docudrama, Unfold the Truth for Life – Follow Facts not Fashion, on World AIDS Day, Monday, the JHTA official blasted the country’s leaders for starting the process of arresting the debilitating disease at ground zero.

Response to criticism

In response to the criticism, president of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF), Wayne Chen, told The Gleaner the testing proposal was in line with accepted practices worldwide and was fully recognised by the International Labour Organisation.

“We are aware that it is a very sensitive issue, one we have to confront at individual and family level, and know that as employers we cannot force people to be tested, we would rather urge them to get tested.”

The Department for International Development funded the $4.2-million prevention and awareness programme aimed at unveiling the truth and fiction about HIV/AIDS to adolescents in the parishes of Hanover, St James and Westmoreland.

“We have a job to stand up now and defend the cause of those affected with HIV,” Cummings urged the audience, while revealing his intimate understanding, having lost friends and family members to the disease.

Disagreed with belief

Clearly disheartened by the recent debate in Parliament pertaining to the workplace policy for persons suffering with HIV/AIDS, he said he disagreed with the belief that employers should have the right to testemployees.

“The problems that Jamaica has had is the stigma attached to this and if we continue to drive people underground, the disease will continue to be a scourge on our nation,” Cummings said. He added that once the disease is well managed, people living with it can be productive, hard-workingemployees.

He said the private sector has failed in that it has not availed itself of the information and that it should be lobbying Government to protect people living with the condition.

“Their largest grouse is what they expect to be their bottom line in health care,” Cummings summarised.

Taking off his JEF hat, Chen, the Super Plus Food Stores boss, said his personal view was that he should have the right to test his employees.

“I am in the food business and all my workers must have food handler’s permits, so I am in a different situation.”

He was quick to point out that employers who screen their workers should ensure they don’t use the information to discriminate against their employees.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com

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