Central America Regional Program
According to limited available HIV surveillance data, Central America’s HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated in large urban areas, with high prevalence rates in some areas along the Caribbean coast. The HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be growing, with prevalence in select countries among the highest in Latin America; Belize is the only country in the region with an estimated adult HIV prevalence rate higher than 1 percent (2.3 percent), according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Adult HIV prevalence in other countries in the region ranges from an estimated 0.2 to 0.9 percent. Approximately 163,000 people in Central America are HIV positive, with El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala accounting for the majority of the region’s total. In most Central American countries, HIV surveillance data on indigenous and other select populations or areas outside the capital are limited.
USAID’s Central America program is designed to help contain the epidemic and mitigate its impact through increasing healthy behaviors among most-at-risk populations (MARPs), other vulnerable populations, and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA); improved health systems to reach MARPs and PLWHA more effectively; increased availability and use of strategic information to support national and regional HIV/AIDS response; and an improved policy environment for achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS services in the region. The program features a multisectoral approach with public, private, faith-based, and secular partners working together under the framework of participatory national strategic planning processes. The program emphasizes the participation and strengthening of local organizations to respond to the epidemic’s threat to sustainable development in the region, particularly through strategic use of information for advocacy, policymaking, and monitoring and evaluation of program efforts. USAID seeks to improve the delivery and use of effective prevention practices by reducing stigma and discrimination toward HIV-infected and -affected individuals.
View the full USAID HIV/AIDS Health Profile for the Central America Region - February 2011 [PDF, 309KB]
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