USAID AND MERCK JOIN FORCES TO SUPPORT JAMAICA AIDS SUPPORT

Announcement by

Ambassador Sue M. Cobb

Monday, June 14, 2004

4:00 p.m.

Jamaica Aids Support

Adolfo Franco; USAID Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean,

Ramon Riancho, Director of Regional Legal and External Affairs, Merck, Sharp and Dohme/Caribbean

Dr. Yitades Gebre; Jamaican Ministry of Health/National HIV/AIDS Program

Dr. Robert Carr, Executive Director of Jamaica Aids Support;

Members of the media;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends

I would like to take a few moments to acknowledge the untimely and tragic passing of one of our partners and friends in the fight against stigma and HIV/AIDS, Mr. Brian Williamson. The U.S. mission shares your grief over the passing of this brave and caring member of the Jamaican community.  As many of you may know, he was featured in the video produced by the U.S. Embassy to highlight recipients of the Ambassador's fund for HIV/AIDS.  His courage to speak out against discrimination and his commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS were awe-inspiring.  Without him, many who suffered would have suffered alone.  He encouraged us all to continue our work in order to make the world a better place.  Let us take this time to remember Brian and all the good that he stood for.  Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me to join you today at the headquarters of Jamaica Aids Support.  Today, JAS will get a much-needed boost to carry out its mandate to care for those affected by HIV/AIDS.  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) teams up with Merck Sharp & Dohme, a Pharmaceutical company based in the United States, to make a significant grant to the organization, amounting to over US$200,000 over a five-year period.

In an important display of public/private partnership, Merck Sharp & Dohme is donating US$40,000 to JAS.  USAID will initially match this figure, and over the next five years donate an additional sum of approximately US$120,000 towards further strengthening of the organization. 

These funds will provide jas with much needed assistance to make it a more sustainable and viable agency to carry out its programmatic activities.  The assistance will enhance the NGO'S institutional capacity, especially in the areas of administration and human resources.  This includes improving the organization's financial systems, developing a monitoring and reporting system, enhancing advocacy and lobbying, raising public awareness, soliciting and maintaining relations with the private sector, strengthening proposal development and improving community mobilization.

This support to JAS is the result of a high-level visit earlier this year by a group of U.S. public and private sector officials.  That visit was led by Adolfo Franco, Assistant Administrator, for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID, and Abner Mason, Executive Director of the AIDS Responsibility Project and Chairman of the International Committee/Presidential advisory council on HIV/AIDS.  The team visited several health care facilities in Jamaica, including JAS, with the aim of building awareness and stimulating the involvement of the private sector in Jamaica and the U.S. to combat HIV/AIDS.

As many of you know, JAS works primarily in the areas of prevention education for marginalised groups and provision of care and support for people affected by HIV/AIDS IN 10 of Jamaica's 14 parishes.  JAS is also one of the major advocacy groups that combats stigma and discrimination against people living with and affected by the disease.  Through the Ambassador's fund for HIV/AIDS, JAS helped to reach out to persons who are hearing impaired, who face a "double stigma" in today's society.  I wish to give a special thank-you to Dr. Robert Carr, for his dedicated service, and to Ian Mcknight, who is collaborating with the U.S. Embassy and Creative Production and Training Centre to produce a new series of public service announcements to fight stigma.

As we are already aware, the Caribbean region has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection (2.4% of the adult population) in the world, after Sub-Saharan Africa (8.8%).  In my own country, close to half a million Americans have died from aids since the disease emerged some twenty years ago, almost a million are now living with HIV/AIDS. 

HIV/AIDS is very high on the agenda of President George W. Bush's administration.  The United States is a major contributor to the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria - a powerful alliance between public and private sectors, and nations - with an initial pledge of US$500 million; Jamaica has already benefited from this year's round of grants. 

The government of Jamaica has taken positive and proactive steps in tackling HIV/AIDS in this country.  The Ministry of Health, which works collaboratively with the National Aids Committee, has made us aware of the potentially destructive impact that HIV/AIDS can have on Jamaica.  I am pleased that my government, through the United States Agency for International Development, has been able to support the Ministry of Health's National HIV/AIDS  prevention and control program since 1988.  As well as supporting the National Aids Committee, the US$1 million per year program that sponsors a voluntary counseling and testing training program, supports local NGO', assists in designing behavior change and communication programs, helps detect trends in the transmission of HIV, and supports efforts to halt mother-to-child transmission of the disease. 

These are all examples of global leadership cemented in strong coalitions - a collective will and commitment to tackle the complexities of HIV/AIDS on several fronts simultaneously. 

In Jamaica, we must work together to build an environment based on tolerance and respect.  Jamaica aids support's current campaign asks us to be less judgmental; more compassionate and more caring.  In the words of Secretary Powell: Our fellow citizens, our neighbors and co-workers, our family members who are living with aids "deserve our compassion, not ostracism.  They deserve to be treated with dignity, not disdain."

The U.S. Embassy in Kingston will continue to support Jamaican organizations like JAS that provide prevention, care and support on HIV/AIDS .  We also look forward to working with our friends in the private sector to encourage outstanding leadership in human resources policies on HIV/AIDS  in the workplace.  If left unchecked, HIV/AIDS could sap the region's economic strength by destroying work forces and driving down productivity as workers and families struggle to cope with the disease.  The workplace is therefore an ideal place to offer education and discussion of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.  Businesses can and should implement human resource policies that are not discriminatory towards persons living with HIV/AIDS, thereby further reducing the stigma associated with the disease.

HIV/AIDS is truly a global problem and it requires a multi-sectoral approach.  It requires a public/private partnership approach.

So it is with pleasure that I announce this public/private partnership in support of Jamaica Aids Support - an organization that has played a leadership role in educating, advocating and caring for men, women and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. 

Together, we can help thousands of Jamaicans to "live positively" for many years to come.

                                       Thank you.