JN+ strengthens HIV response after Hurricane Melissa
· The GleanerIn moments of crisis, disruptions to healthcare, medication access, transportation, and essential services can have serious consequences for People Living with HIV (PLHIV). Yet ,even in these challenging circumstances, The Jamaican Network of Seropositives (JN+), following Hurricane Melissa, mobilised relief supplies across western Jamaica, providing food packages, medication support, psychosocial assistance, referrals, and linkages to shelter, by meeting individuals where they are and offering compassionate, practical help, awakening our mandate to aid PLHIV and quell uncertainty and fear. Our presence provided comfort, stability, and a clear message: no one would be abandoned.
In a recent JN+ Health & Wellness Village in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay over 300 residents from every walk of life, market vendors, taxi operators, families, commuters, and PLHIV were offered free health checks, HIV testing and prevention tools, testing options, condoms, hurricane relief packages, and on-the-spot support. The event had a people-centred HIV response with conversations, connections, and services delivered with respect, dignity, and love.
“Although progress has been made nationally, many PLHIV continue to face daily barriers heightened by social and economic instability. Overcoming disruption also requires us to challenge stigma, discrimination, and the silence that allows inequality to persist,” a communiqué from JN+ said.
“Let us honour those lost, celebrate the resilience of those still fighting, and recommit to creating a Jamaica where every person, regardless of HIV status, has the opportunity to thrive.”
The initiative by JN+ was centred around World AIDS Day, observed each year on December 1. “This year’s theme, ‘Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response’, carries special meaning for Jamaica as communities in the western parishes continue recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa,” the communiqué added.