SIDA y VIH
HIV & AIDS statistics
It is estimated that in the Latin American area there were 2 million people living with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2008. Of these, 170,000 were newly infected during 2008. In that same year it is estimated that 77,000 people died of AIDS.
National HIV prevalence (the proportion of the population who are living with HIV) is now estimated to be at least 1% in Belize, Guyana, Panama and Suriname. However, in most countries HIV is not generalized but is highly concentrated in populations at particular risk. Despite a national prevalence below 1%, Brazil (by far the region's most populous country) accounts for around 43% of people living with HIV in Latin America. In some Brazilian cities, more than 60% of drug users are HIV positive.
Transmission routes
In the majority of South American countries, injecting drug use and sex between men are the most important routes of HIV transmission. The virus is then passed on to other sexual partners. In Central America, drug use plays a smaller role and most infections appear to be occurring through sexual transmission (both heterosexual and between men).
Unsafe sex among men who have sex with men (MSM) is common across the whole region. HIV prevalence rates among these men are between 8% and 26%. Nearly 60% of the HIV diagnoses to date, in Mexico can be attributed to unprotected sex between men. Studies in the Andean region have further highlighted the problem. HIV prevalence among MSM in Lima, Peru had been as much as 22%, but now is half that figure. Neighbouring Bolivia, however still has a HIV prevalence around 20% in MSM. In Lima sex between men is widespread; a tenth of men said they had sex with other men and of these, 9 out of 10 said they also had sex with women.
It is estimated that approximately 25% to 33% of men who have sex with men in Central America (not including Panama) also have sex with women. A high proportion of MSM who have sex with women do so without a condom, contributing to the increasing numbers of women becoming infected. A 2006 study showed that condom use among male sex workers in Latin America, particularly in Ecuador and Peru, was not adhered to as consistently as in female sex workers. However Colombia reports approximately 90% of sex workers, both genders, used condoms regularly in 2007.
The spread of HIV through the sharing of drug injecting equipment is still a feature of the epidemic in Latin America, notably in the capitals of Paraguay and Uruguay. However regionally IDU’s appear to account for a smaller number of new infections than shown previously. In Buenos Aires, Argentina IDUs accounted for only 5% of new infections and this decline is mirrored also in some cities in Brazil.
Provision of antiretrovirals
Countries in Latin America do seem determined to limit the impact of the epidemic, and are making efforts to provide antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to people with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Brazil in particular is now producing low cost AIDS drugs at a fraction of the cost of the big pharmaceutical companies. Around 181,000 HIV-positive Brazilians were receiving treatment at the end of 2007, which was 80% of those in immediate need.
Other countries with high levels of access to antiretroviral drugs include Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela. However in Ecuador and the poorer countries of Central America a large proportion of people are still unable to access treatment.
The Brazilian government has estimated that antiretroviral treatment has contributed to a 50% fall in mortality rates, a 60-80% decrease in morbidity rates and a 70% reduction in hospitalizations among HIV-positive people. Argentina also reported decreasing numbers of deaths between 1999 and 2004.
AVERT.org features further discussion of treatment and other issues connected with HIV & AIDS in Latin America.
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 % |
||
| Argentina | 120,000 | 0.5 | 5,400 |
| Belize | 3,600 | 2.1 | <200 |
| Bolivia | 8,100 | 0.2 | <500 |
| Brazil | 730,000 | 0.6 | 15,000 |
| Chile | 31,000 | 0.3 | <1,000 |
| Colombia | 170,000 | 0.6 | 9,800 |
| Costa Rica | 9,700 | 0.4 | <200 |
| Ecuador | 26,000 | 0.3 | 1,200 |
| El Salvador | 35,000 | 0.8 | 1,700 |
| Guatemala | 59,000 | 0.8 | 3,900 |
| Guyana | 13,000 | 2.5 | <1,000 |
| Honduras | 28,000 | 0.7 |
1,800 |
| Mexico | 200,000 | 0.3 | 11,000 |
| Nicaragua | 7,700 | 0.2 | <500 |
| Panama | 20,000 | 1.0 |
<1,000 |
| Paraguay | 21,000 | 0.6 | <1,000 |
| Peru | 76,000 | 0.5 | 3,300 |
| Suriname | 6,800 | 2.4 |
- |
| Uruguay | 10,000 | 0.6 | <500 |
| Venezuela | - | - |
- |
| Total | 1,700,000 | 0.5 | 63,000 |
Notes
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 Mexico is estimated as being between 150,000 and 310,000, and the figure for Honduras lies in the range 18,000 to 44,000.
