With 300,000 now living with HIV in the Caribbean, show garden project manager for Christian Aid, Karen Hedges, warned in The Good News that education is vital to stop the spread of the disease.
“HIV/AIDS presents us with an enormous challenge and often it is the poorest communities that are worst affected,” she said.
"Education is vital. Jamaica is the third-largest island in the Caribbean and HIV rates are continuing to rise at an alarming rate.
The garden’s designer, Claire Whitehouse, took her inspiration from projects funded by Christian Aid to fight HIV and AIDS in Jamaica with the hope of encouraging flower show visitors to look beyond the traditional picture-postcard image of the Caribbean.Visitors to the Christian Aid garden will have the opportunity to speak with Christian Aid partners working in the HIV/AIDS field as well as share the experience of some of the people that these partners work with.
“We want to educate visitors to the garden about the great work of our partners and encourage them to join us in the fight against this deadly disease,” said Ms. Hedges. “The garden will be both beautiful and educational."
The postcards of the Caribbean belie the daily reality for many of Jamaica’s 2.7 million inhabitants, with many of the younger generations in particular struggling against the tide of rising HIV/AIDS and unemployment, as well as the social ills of poverty and illiteracy.
The Caribbean now has the world’s second highest rate of HIV infection after sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 24,000 deaths across the region in 2005 alone. It is also the number one cause of death in the 15-44 age bracket.
