January 14th, 2011
World Learning announces a solicitation on behalf of USAID/Jamaica through the HIV/AIDS Grants Solicitation and Management Program. The purpose of this announcement is to invite Jamaican Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to submit Concept Papers to World Learning (WL) in response this Call for projects to promote 'HIV/AIDS Prevention for Most-At-Risk Populations'.

Jamaica joins the rest of the world on December 1, 2009 to commemorate World AIDS Day, which has been observed globally on that date every year since 1988. We have come a far way since then in educating and sensitizing our people about the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. This year the general theme is simply Universal Access to Human Rights. This is important as we still have miles to go especially in tackling one of the biggest problems we face – stigma and discrimination. It is fitting therefore that this year’s theme for our local observance is “Yes I can…support someone living with HIV/AIDS”. This statement is a call for action geared at improving attitudes and behaviour towards persons living with HIV/AIDS. We have seen improvements in this regard as our latest study carried out in 2008 indicates that 82.8% of Jamaicans said they were willing to care for a family member who becomes sick with the virus. This is an improvement on the 2004, figures when the result was 78%. There is an intrinsic link between universal access and human rights and HIV discrimination is a barrier to persons accessing treatment, care and support. Discrimination also blocks access to prevention services for those in our population who are most-at-risk. We have to continue our drive to change the thinking and behaviour of our people in this regard.