Inter Press Service - January 29, 1999
Misha Lobban

According to Health Minister, John Junor, it is costing the government some 2.4 million dollars per year to treat persons with the disease, of which 1.4 million dollars is for hospital care.

The drug Protease Inhibitor, which is used to treat patients here costs 833 dollars per month per person.

"The economics of providing health care for persons with AIDS is prohibitive. It is horrible that we have to equate care with finance but that is the reality," says Jenny Hopwood, Coordinator of the Commercial Sex Worker Programme. "If government is to attempt to give first class treatment to AIDS patients the cost would be horrendous. The reality is that the country does not have the resource to provide health care for AIDS patients or to control the disease," says one man whose friend has the disease.

Since the first Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( AIDS) case was diagnosed here in 1982, some 3,109 persons have contracted the disease. Of this number 1,832 have died - 1,166 men and 666 women.

The number of children with the disease is also on the rise. In 1992 there were 10 children in Jamaica with AIDS and by 1996 the figure had reached 47. The figure now stands at 246.

There is also concern that with between 15,000 and 20,000 Jamaicans infected with HIV - the virus which causes AIDS - the toll on the country's health system will be grave when these cases become full-blown AIDS.

"The reality is that we have not seen the brunt of the disease. We will only begin to see it in the next five years when the 15 to 20,000 HIV cases are converted to AIDS. This is when it will become critical," says Hopwood.

"Physicians and health care workers will have to take responsibility for not just providing treatment but preventative care such as maintaining a healthy diet and home-based care programmes that can help persons to live and cope with the disease. This could greatly relieve the pressure on the health system," says Hopwood.

Reports have indicated that the factors contributing to the rise in the HIV/AIDS cases in the region are inadequate health care, lack of education about the disease, the persistent use of illegal drugs and the sex industry.

Junor says government is now stepping up efforts to educate the public about the disease in an attempt to encourage Jamaicans to practice healthy lifestyles. But apart from the drain on government's resources which the disease is causing, there is also concern that it is taking a heavy toll on the labour force and will have serious implications for the future development of the country.

Dr. James Hospedales, Director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) says persons between the ages of 15 and 45 - considered to be at their most productive - are the ones who are coming down with the disease. Health officials say although the occupation of a large percentage of the persons living with AIDS is difficult to determine, research has indicated that fourteen percent of those with the disease are persons involved in the construction industry such as masons and carpenters as well as casual workers, vendors and professionals.

Prostitutes, dancers security officers, farmers and persons working in the tourism industry account for 12 percent, while housewives, farmworkers and clerical workers account for eight percent. Sailors and students account for three percent.

Another factor in all of this, say observers, is that a large number of the persons with the disease are therefore unable to afford to pay for the very expensive drugs used to keep the disease in check. The minimum wage here is 27 dollars per week and more than 800,000 Jamaicans are said to be living below the poverty line which means they earn the minimum wage or less.

A recent study done by CAREC in collaboration with the Health Economics Unit, University of the West Indies, projects an annual loss of 1.5 billion dollars to Caribbean countries within the next decade as more persons in the productive age group contract the disease.

"We simply must arrest the trend of this disease because if we don't the projections indicate extremely grave developmental consequences for our countries," says Hospedales.

According to another study carried out by CAREC, two in every 100 Caribbean residents between the ages of 15 and 50 are infected with the virus. Overall, the Caribbean region is the second in the world to Sub- Saharan Africa when it comes to HIV infection rate. (END/IPS/ml/cb/99)

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