SIDA y VIH
HIV & AIDS statistics
The statistics show that at the end of 2008, an estimated 240,000 people were living with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. Some 20,000 people were newly infected during 2008, and there were 12,000 deaths due to AIDS.
In the Bahamas more than 2% of the adult population is living with HIV. Higher prevalence rates are found only in sub-Saharan Africa, making the Caribbean the second-most affected region in the world. Half of adults living with the virus are women.
Trends and transmission routes
Overall, the main route of HIV transmission in the Caribbean is heterosexual sex. Much of this transmission is associated with commercial sex, but the virus is also spreading in the general population. Sex between men is also a major factor in some countries' epidemics. Cultural and behavioural patterns (such as early initiation of sexual acts, and taboos related to sex and sexuality), gender inequalities, lack of confidentiality, stigmatization and economic need are some of the factors influencing vulnerability to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.
Provision of antiretrovirals
Countries in this region are making efforts to slow the epidemic and to limit its impact, most obviously through their efforts to provide antiretroviral drugs. In 2002, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS signed an agreement with six pharmaceutical companies to provide access to cheaper antiretroviral drugs. Progress since then has been uneven, partly due to wide differences in drug prices.
Access to antiretroviral therapy is provided to all those in need in Cuba, and Barbados is close to this goal. However in Trinidad and Tobago, only 58% of those in need of treatment for AIDS were receiving it at the end of 2007, and rates in the four other large countries were even lower.
AVERT.org features further discussion of treatment and other issues connected with HIV & AIDS in the Caribbean, and information about universal access to AIDS treatment.
Estimated HIV and AIDS prevalence and deaths due to AIDS, end 2007
| Country | Living with HIV/AIDS | Deaths due to AIDS during 2007 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| All people | Adult (15-49) rate % |
||
| Bahamas | 6,200 | 3.0 | <200 |
| Barbados | 2,200 | 1.2 | <100 |
| Cuba | 6,200 | 0.1 | <100 |
| Dominican Republic | 62,000 | 1.1 | 3,900 |
| Haiti | 120,000 | 2.2 |
7,500 |
| Jamaica | 27,000 | 1.6 | 1,400 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 14,000 | 1.5 |
<1,000 |
It should be noted that the above figures are estimates and are made with a large degree of uncertainty. For example, the number of people living with HIV in Cuba is estimated as being between 3,600 and 12,000.
