103.9 FM WDKX
Rochester, NY
Your #1 Radio for R&B
On air:
The Wake Up Club with
Tariq, Liz, Andy & BIRD
Listen Online
103.9 WDKX Live Stream
REQUEST A SONG!
Request A Song
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has urged more Jamaicans to get HIV AIDS tests.
His call came as he, and chairman of the National AIDS Committee Howard Hamilton, took a voluntary test and had counseling as part of activities to mark World AIDS Day. The focus of the day, December 1, is to encourage more people to get tested and also to reduce the fear and stigma associated with the disease.
Following his test, the prime minister said every Jamaican should get tested for HIV, as it is not an ailment that only affects social deviants. "It is something to which all of us can be exposed," he said.
Golding urged persons to get tested just as routinely as they would for other health conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.
"The test is simple, it takes very little time and there is virtually no pain," he said, adding that HIV AIDS is no longer a "death sentence" as even in instances where persons test positive, they can live a normal life once detection and treatment begins early.
He said getting tested routinely will assist with keeping the incidences of HIV in the country as low as possible.
UN AIDS estimates that global HIV prevalence has leveled off, with the number of new infections having fallen partly as a result of the impact of HIV programs.
In Jamaica, it is estimated that between 25,000 and 28,000 persons are living with HIV (not AIDS). However, between 15,000 and 18,000 of these persons are unaware that they are HIV positive.
