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HIV/AIDS and Response

HIV is an issue of national significance in Jamaica. The prevalence of HIV in the country has steadily increased, and by the end of 2003, about 22,000 people were reported infected with the virus, while about 3,700 had died from AIDS. Even so, HIV infection and AIDS cases are considerably underreported, and the magnitude of the epidemic is not known with any precision. Pediatric cases account for 8 percent of total reported AIDS cases, with AIDS being the second-leading cause of death in children aged 1 to 4 years.

Jamaica currently has an incomplete picture of the socioeconomic impact of HIV. UNDP is supporting a six-month research project to provide baseline data on key micro-level issues related to such impact, encompassing both a household survey on factors that increase or reduce household vulnerability to HIV and qualitative data gathering to capture in-depth information on changes in living conditions and quality of life among People Living With HIV and their households.

Initiatives to Support HIV/AIDS and Response

UNDP is contributing to the development of a supportive and enabling national policy framework to reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS. We collaborate with United Nations partners including UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNICEF to design programmes that assess the impact of HIV and AIDS and increase awareness among vulnerable groups, especially young women and men, as well as among community, political and institutional leaders.

In particular, our support to generate baseline data at the household level on the impact of the epidemic will:

  • Examine key micro-level issues related to HIV impact, for which data are lacking. These may include trends or changes in socioeconomic status of households with an HIV-positive adult, percentage of children in the household attending school, household food security, and percentage of household income spent on health care.
  • Generate recommendations related to policies, programmes, “early warning” systems and/or household- and community-level strategies aimed at reducing the socioeconomic impact of HIV.
  • Strengthen national capacity to assess the development impact of HIV.

Our overall goal is to assist the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based policies and programmes aimed at reducing the impact of HIV in Jamaica.