Jamaican AIDS Director: Churches Should Take Modern Approach Towards HIV

As the HIV crisis continues to rise in Jamaica, Novlet Reid, the Director of Support Services at Jamaican Aids Support is urging churches to take a modern approach towards their congregation regarding the issue.

|TOP|Reid told Premier's Woman-to-Woman presenter, Bridgitte Tetteh the Church should play a larger role in preventing the spread of HIV between Jamaicans and tourists from the UK and elsewhere.

"We have not seen a decrease in HIV since 1982 in Jamaica. I have seen situations where people have visited Jamaica, got involved with someone sexually and ended up HIV positive."

"People are not taking the necessary steps to protect themselves from HIV. Young people think that this does not happen to them. In the early days, HIV was associated with the gay population and many people still think if they are not gay they will not get HIV. The majority of people who are HIV positive in Jamaica are heterosexual."

Reid commented that although the Church is doing more to talk to young people about HIV, they need to take on a modern, realistic approach if they want to make a difference. "Ten years ago the Church wouldn't open their doors for us to come in and do HIV talks. Fortunately, that has changed. We now see the Church playing active roles against HIV. In our culture, a church finds it very difficult to talk about sex and sexuality. Unless we can approach the subject by being open, we will still continue to see an increase of HIV."

"Abstinence is the message, but let's be real; we live in a society where sex is in the eyes of everyone. We can tell people to abstain but are they abstaining? No. We do preach abstinence but we do also preach safe sex."

|AD|The JAS believe it is important for tourists visiting the Caribbean to change their attitude of the islands as a place to visit for sex. "People on vacation in Jamaica expect sex, they ask for it. Once they come, they think one of the things they should do is experience sex. We have a term in Jamaica called Rent-A-Dread. They [tourists] do want to go out into the hills and experience sex with a Rastafarian. There's a lot of cultural connection between the UK and Jamaica. Church should encourage people to come to Jamaica for other reasons than sex."

"This is a situation that effects all of us. I have seen situations where people have visited Jamaica, got involved with someone sexually and ended up HIV positive. Younger people are a little bit more liberal than we were in my days. They tend to just do things for the fun of it."

"Are we helping them in thinking about sex seriously, about making the right choices? As a country we need to help our young people in making the right choices when it comes to safe sex."

In light of the rising issue, popular rock bands Switchfoot and Tree63 will talk about the HIV/Aids pandemic in Africa prior to their performance in the UK next month.