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IX. Conclusion

Jamaica is at a crossroads in its efforts to address its growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.  The epidemic is spreading among the general population, and HIV/AIDS is on the increase. The Jamaican government—namely, the Ministry of Health’s national HIV/AIDS program—has acknowledged that human rights abuses against marginalized populations at risk of HIV and against people living with HIV/AIDS are important factors driving the epidemic.  Its national HIV/AIDS strategy has at its core protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of people living with and at high risk of HIV/AIDS.  And since 2002, the Jamaican government has received significant resources to put its national HIV/AIDS strategy into action, including by developing a legal framework to ensure human rights protections.

But absent political leadership to end state-sponsored violence and discrimination against men who have sex with men, sex workers, and people living with HIV/AIDS and against peer educators working with them, Jamaica could miss an opportunity to reverse the course of its epidemic.  Government leaders must act quickly and forcefully to combat widely-held prejudices that interfere with HIV/AIDS policy and undermine Jamaicans’ human right to health.  The Jamaican government must also join forces with regional efforts to reform discriminatory laws and policies that create the conditions in which the epidemic flourishes.  If Jamaica fails to take such steps, its investment in fighting AIDS will be wasted.  The cost will be immeasurable, and for many Jamaicans, the consequences will prove fatal.