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UN experts said recently that the
AIDS epidemic is stable in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, they are
concerned about a “worrying wave of conservatism, notably with restrictions to
access to condoms, for example in schools,” said Pedro Chequer, UNAIDS
coordinator in Brazil.
“Conservative religious groups,
Catholic and non-Catholic, view the distribution of condoms as something wrong
from a moral and religious standpoint,” Chequer said.
An estimated 1.6 million residents
of Latin America were living with AIDS last year, including 230,000 in the
Caribbean, according to a UNAIDS global report. The agency also noted that last
year 99,000 people became infected with HIV in the region, where broad use of
antiretroviral drugs has significantly reduced mortality.
In the early 2000s, 63,000 people
died of AIDS every year in Latin America, compared with 57,000 in 2011. That
figure in Central America and the Caribbean fell by half, from 20,000 in 2001
to 10,000 last year. Chequer said that with greater access to drug treatment,
AIDS has stopped being “a death sentence to become a chronic condition.”
Chequer also commented on AIDS
stigma in Latin America, saying that “there is a certain reluctance to face
this problem head-on.” He said that Brazil was one of the countries which
record the biggest numbers of homophobic crimes. “In 2011 alone, there were 280
crimes, well ahead of Mexico and the United States,” he said.
UNAIDS pointed out that Brazil
produces 10 AIDS drugs and distributes them to African and Latin American
countries. It also distributes free condoms and is opening a drug manufacturing
plant in Mozambique.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
