Haiti
With 2.2 percent of adults estimated to be HIV positive, Haiti has a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic. It has the largest epidemic in the Caribbean, where about three-quarters of HIV-positive people live in Haiti or the Dominican Republic. First reported in 1979, HIV infections in Haiti increased until the early 1990s. Prevalence then began to decrease, particularly in urban areas. HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics declined notably from 5.9 percent in 1996 to 3.1 percent in 2004. The decline, however, appears to have stabilized at 2.2 percent prevalence in recent years. The latest sentinel antenatal survey found a seroprevalence rate among pregnant women of 2.7 percent. While positive behavior changes may be in part responsible for the overall decline, significant levels of high-risk behavior have persisted, particularly in rural areas and among young people. Overall, the negative health, economic, and social impacts of HIV/AIDS continue to be disproportionately high due to a weak health care system, extreme poverty, and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.
USAID-supported primary health care services are integrated at the health facility level so that people receive maternal and child health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis services as a package. At the end of 2009, 24,000 HIV-positive individuals were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Programs providing community- and family-level support for people living with HIV/AIDS were expanded to all 10 regional departments. More than 59,000 children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS received support in the form of supplemental food, health care, immunizations, legal and social services, and school scholarships.
View the full USAID HIV/AIDS Health Profile for Haiti - November 2010 [PDF, 157KB].
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