Over the coming weeks, children living with HIV, supported by Panos and The Gleaner Company, will be delivering letters advocating for positive change on the issues they have identified to movers and shakers in Jamaica. Two children delivered the following letters:

Infected persons have right to employment

Ms. Patricia Donald

Jamaica Business Council on HIV and AIDS

Ruthven Road

Kingston

November 9, 2007

Dear Ms. Donald,

I am a 14-year-old young man who is very concerned about persons infected by HIV in the workplace. I think people who are infected should be allowed to work without being discriminated against. HIV cannot be transmitted by touching, sharing equipment or talking to each other, or shaking hands. So, can you please encourage employers and workers not to discriminate against their colleagues who are infected.

Everybody should get an equal opportunity to work and feel free and comfortable. Let us think for a moment: If all employers fired all workers who were HIV-positive, what would happen to the society? There would be an increase in crime and violence, people would become involved in drugs, women would start selling their bodies and more and more Jamaicans would be at risk of contracting the disease. In addition, with fewer workers, the economy would come to a standstill.

So, I am asking you to help us spread the message that people living with HIV need employment. I am willing to work with you to start a programme to inform people in the workplace about HIV. You could call it 'A Taste of Paradise'.