WHILE AGREEING that positive steps have been made in HIV prevention programmes, health officials said yesterday that there was still very little room for complacency.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day HIV conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, Minister of Health John Junor said recent figures from the latest reproductive health survey showed that general use of contraceptive methods among adolescents increased from 58.6 per cent to 69.8 per cent between 1997 and 2002. The Minister also pointed to increased contraceptive use, with condoms being the preferred method among the public.
GLIMMER OF HOPE
"There is some glimmer of hope in all of this but we need to re-double our efforts," Mr. Junor told health and child welfare officials at the conference, entitled: "My Brother, My sister, My friend - the many faces of HIV/AIDS."
Dr. Yitades Gebre, senior medical officer in the Health Ministry, said that of the estimated 22,000 HIV-infected persons in Jamaica, anywhere between 50 and 60 per cent of them are not aware of their HIV status. He said this could lead to an additional 40,000 to 60,000 new HIV infections.
He however pointed out that under the Ministry's mother-to-child transmission prevention programme, 90 per cent of pregnant women now have access to voluntary testing and counselling.
