HIV & AIDS in the Dominican Republic
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An overview up to 2008
The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to have a major impact on the Dominican Republic. The Demographic and Health Survey (ENDESA-07) estimates a prevalence of 0.8% in the population aged between 15 and 49 years. This data indicates that the epidemic has stabilised, but large sectors of the population still live in conditions of vulnerability and exclusion, which puts them at risk of HIV/AIDS.
For example, ENDESA-07 found a very high incidence of HIV (3.7%) among women who do not know how to read or write, as well as in the batey (sugar plantation worker settlements) population (3.2%), reaching levels as high as 8% among women aged 45-49 and 9% among men aged 44-49 who live in bateyes.
In the case of Dominican children, it is estimated that 2.663 children and adolescents between the ages of 0 and 14 are living with HIV in 2008, while 33,000 are believed to have been orphaned as a result of HIV and AIDS.
The main cause of HIV transmission in children is mother to child transmission. Despite the fact that the country is implementing the HIV Vertical Transmission (mother to child) Reduction Programme, it has not achieved the target universal coverage, with about 50% of pregnant women not undergoing HIV testing, and another very significant proportion of HIV-positive women and their children do not receive anti-retro-viral (ARV) treatment.
UNICEF’s office in the Dominican Republic supports the National Response to the HIV epidemic through initiatives aimed at preventing HIV among adolescents, preventing vertical HIV transmission, treatment for children living with HIV and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable children.
November 2008
For more information, visit our Publication Section on HIV/AIDS (available only in Spanish)
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