NEW YORK, N.Y. -- An estimated two hundred and fifty thousands adults and children are living with the dreaded HIV/AIDS disease in the Caribbean, a new UN report released yesterday claimed.
The annual AIDS epidemic update reports on the latest developments in the global AIDS epidemic by UN AIDS show that an additional 27,000 new cases were diagnosed since the last report, and 19,000 people died.
Nearly three quarters of the 250 000 people living are in the two countries of the island of Hispaniola: Dominican Republic and Haiti. The highest infection levels are found in the bateyes.
But national adult HIV prevalence is high throughout the region: 1-2 percent in Barbados, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and 2-4 percent in the Bahamas, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, the report said.
Cuba, with prevalence below 0.1ppercent continued to be the exception. Although HIV infection levels have remained stable in the Dominican Republic and have declined in urban parts of Haiti, more localized trends suggest that both countries need to guard against possibly resurgent epidemics, the report added.
But there was some good news with officials reporting some recent, positive changes are evident among young people in parts of the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in East Africa.
Sub-saharan Africa still maintained the highest number of HIV/AIDS case with almost 28 million.
UNAIDS officials again reiterated that inadequate HIV surveillance remains a hindrance in many countries—including Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, the Middle East and North Africa. This makes it difficult to discern precisely the patterns and trends of some HIV epidemics, and hinders the design and implementation of potentially effective responses.
