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Thu, 8 May 15:50:40 GMT17

 
AIDS in Americas

Last reviewed: 12-03-2008
A "March of Silence" in Mexico City in 2005 in support of people with HIV.<BR> REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar
A "March of Silence" in Mexico City in 2005 in support of people with HIV.
REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar
Nearly 1.7 million people are living with HIV in Latin America, and 250,000 in the Caribbean. The latter has the second highest infection rate in the world - 1.6 percent - after sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

  • Latin America has the developing world's highest treatment coverage.

    In Latin America 73 percent of those in need were receiving anti-retroviral drugs in 2005. In the Caribbean the figure was on a par with sub-Saharan Africa: 23 percent.

    Brazil has the largest number of people living with HIV in Latin America, but its prevalence rate is just 0.5 percent, one of the lowest in the world. The country's prevention, testing and treatment programmes have been held up as a global model.

    In the Caribbean, Cuba has managed to contain the epidemic, but using controversial methods including quarantining and forced testing which have been criticised by experts.

    The Caribbean's pandemic is mainly fuelled by the sex industry, according to UNAIDS. A smaller factor is unsafe sex between men.

    In some Latin American countries - Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru - unprotected sex between men who have sex with men accounts for as many as a third of AIDS cases. Infection rates among sex workers vary widely.

    KEY FACTS


    Latin America
    Number with HIV/AIDS in 2007 1.6 million (UNAIDS, 2007)
    AIDS deaths in 2007 58,000 (UNAIDS, 2007)
    Country with highest prevalence rate Belize (2.5 percent) (UNAIDS 2005)
    Caribbean
    Number with HIV/AIDS in 2007 230,000 (UNAIDS, 2007)
    AIDS deaths in 2007 11,000 (UNAIDS, 2007)
    Countries with highest number of people with HIV Haiti and Dominican Republic (UNAIDS, 2007)
    Country with lowest percentage of people with HIV/AIDS Cuba (0.1 percent) (UNAIDS 2005)

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