MrHappy

Originally Posted by Sidney

AIDS still a problem in the Dominican Republic---------from DR1
According to an interview with Diario Libre at the XIX International Conference on AIDS in Washington, D.C., Jaime Valencia, operations director of the international organization Aid for Aids said that social stigma, the lack of education on HIV/AIDS and sexual tourism are some of the reasons why the Dominican Republic is still in second place in the Caribbean in terms of number of cases.

According to Copresida, there are 60,000 people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in the DR. The DR is second only to Haiti that has more than 120,000 cases. According to the World Health Organization, there are an estimated 34 million people living with HIV in the world.

Valencia said that there are many cases when a foreign tourist carries the virus and the infection can occur between woman-man or man-man. He said that sometimes when being paid for sex, there is not the option to request a condom.

He said that there is more HIV/AIDS in heterosexual women in the Dominican Republic than gay men, and that this is the same in many African countries.

He went on to say that despite a major effort on the part of the government there is still much work to be done, as the stigma and discrimination amongst those who live with HIV is still high. He called the stigma one of the highest barriers because people are scared to be tested and are scared that others may learn they are living with HIV.

Food for thought.