Cuba reports lowest HIV rate in the Caribbean
Campaign News | Thursday, 27 November 2008
Cuba reported that 0,1 percent of its population is infected with the AIDS virus, a figure that is considered by experts as the lowest in the Caribbean, though there is a trend towards an increase, according to local reports.
“In the island the AIDS-related mortality rate and the mother-child transmission of the disease is very low,” said Rosaida Ochoa, director of the National AIDS Prevention Center in statements to a Cuban radio station.
However, Ochoa explained that the epidemic is steadily spreading particularly among men. “Up to date, 80 percent of the Cuban cero positives are men, and of them 85 percent have sex with other men,” said the expert, as quoted by DPA.
Currently, there are 8,607 people living with HIV-AIDS in the island, and more that 3,000 are receiving antiretroviral therapy, according to the National AIDS Prevention Centre’s director Manuel Hernandez.
So far in 2008, 1,050 new cases have been reported, while more that 1.7 million diagnosis tests were carried out, said Hernandez.
