IN JAMAICA: MINISTER of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson yesterday disclosed that bisexuals accounted for 40 per cent of new HIV infections in 2012

Tuesday, July 14, 2015
MINISTER of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson yesterday disclosed that men who have sex with both men and women accounted for almost 40 per cent of new HIV infections in 2012.
01
Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson (second right) shares
a light moment with the Global Fund’s Fund Portfolio
Manager Giulia Perrone (right), USAID Mission Director Denise
 Herbol (second left) and National HIV/STI Programme Director
Dr Nicola Skyers after an announcement that more than
 US$20 million will be pumped into the country’s
 HIV/STI programme. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)
Speaking at a press conference to announce the approval of funds for the National HIV/STI Programme at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston, Dr Ferguson said although the HIV/STI programme has made significant strides in achieving a decline in new infections and is on track to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, it continues to face challenges with respect to the prevalence rate among vulnerable groups.
“While we have a prevalence rate of 1.8 per cent among the general population, female sex workers have a prevalence of 4.2 per cent, young men under 25 years who have sex with men are at 24.3 per cent as at 2013, and adult men who have sex with men (MSM) have a prevalence rate of 32 per cent,” the health minister explained.
“In addition, men who have sex with men and their female partners accounted for almost 40 per cent of new infections in 2012,” he said.
“I want to further note that MSM who reported being involved in sex work, reported an HIV prevalence of 41 per cent, transgender women 45 per cent, and transgender populations in sex work reaching as high as 56 per cent.”
Insisting that the prevalence rate among these groups are “way too high”, Dr Ferguson said that much of the efforts must be concentrated on these vulnerable groups, adding that there is the ever present challenge of implementing mechanisms to effectively deal with the issue of stigma and discrimination.
The approved funds include US$14.9 million from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, to be used from January 2016 to December 2018; US$5 million from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDs Relief (PEPFAR)/United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the 2015/2016 financial year, and increased budgetary allocation from the Jamaican Government. more

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