trends

Abstracted from UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2003

The Caribbean has a well rooted and rapidly spreading HIV epidemic. At the end of 2003, 350,000 to 590,000 adults and children in the region were living with HIV/AIDS. New HIV infections in 2003 alone stood at 45,000 - 80,000. The region's HIV prevalence rate is estimated to be between 1.9% and 3.1%. HIV prevalence among pregnant women has either reached or exceeded 2% in the Bahamas , the Dominican Republic , Guyana , Haiti , and Trinidad and Tobago .

With the exception of Puerto Rico where people injecting drugs are driving the epidemic up, heterosexual transmission is driving the epidemic up in other countries in this region. In many cases, this is associated with commercial sex. The epidemic is also spreading rapidly due to early unsafe sexual debut and frequent change of sexual partners.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the worst hit in the Caribbean region. HIV/AIDS claims an estimated 30,000 lives a year in Haiti and has left about 200,000 children orphaned by AIDS. Haiti 's national HIV prevalence levels have remained stable at 5-6% since the late 1980s. The prevalence rate varies from as high as 13% in the northwest to 2-3% in the south along the border with the Dominican Republic . HIV/AIDS knowledge among young people in the region is higher than in some other regions around the world. Despite the increased knowledge, young people indulge in high-risk unsafe sexual practices. It is estimated that the prevalence rate will be higher in the immediate future, especially in Haiti , where over 60% of the population is under 24 years of age - the spread of the disease in Haiti is mainly by heterosexual transmission.

Prevention efforts in Dominican Republic appear to have stabilized the HIV prevalence rate in the country. HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in this country has fallen down to 1% in 2002 after climbing to a 3% high in 1995. Safer sexual practices appear to be the reason for the decline.

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