When I think about MANOA I think about traveling. And when I think about traveling, I often think about Latin America! From the mountains of Patagonia, one of the most beautiful places I have visited, to the beaches of Peru, the fields of Uruguay and the mighty waterfalls of Iguazu, this part of the world is definitely one of our planets treasures. It definitely has a special place in my heart and that is why I wanted to learn a bit more about their situation with HIV.
Latin America includes countries like Brazil who’s population has doubled in 50 years reaching a total of 216 million Brazilians, and other smaller countries such as Guatemala or El Salvador who have proved that they can lead the fight against HIV with changes in new infections of -51% and -46% since 2010. However, the continent is still struggling to find the right answers to HIV and has made little progress avoiding new infections since the beginning of the century. Ooops sorry! Excuse me for starting with the not so positive information instead of starting with the encouraging data!
Let’s start again! Here we go! AIDS-related deaths have decreased in Latin America since 2010 (-28%) and out of the 2.2 million people with HIV in 2021, 82% knew their status. If you like seeing the glass half empty you will surely tell me that almost 20% of people living with HIV do not know their status, but here we like seeing the glass half full. Does that mean that we don’t want to see the negative information? Not at all! 82% of people who know their status is a really good number and 91% of the virally suppressed are on treatment, clearly proving that we can reach a milestone where HIV can be globally controlled. What is left to do to reach that goal?
Among the countries who best lowered their new HIV infections per year since 2010 are Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina and Colombia.
Latin America includes many countries with various landscapes, often not easy to access or far away from main towns and cities. In many of these countries you can drive hours without finding a place where access to medicine can be easy, and cheap! Just like in other parts of the world, there is also an issue with misinformation, discrimination and stigma. This is exactly where we come in to prove that we all have a role to play to help save lives and if we want to win this fight against HIV!
Where can we have a role to play in Latin America? Especially with key populations where new infections are higher! According to UNAIDS, in 2021 this included gay men and other men who have sex with men (48%), clients of sex workers and sex partners of all key populations (29% - this includes men and women) and 7% of new infections that year were from the remaining population. The lowest percentage of new infections were among transgender women (6%), sex workers (6%) and 4% were people who inject drugs. This brings me to a quick thought… if only 6% of transgender women represented the total number of new infections in Latin America, why is this population facing such discrimination concerning HIV? Clearly this doesn’t help avoid that among the countries who provided this data, 22% of the transgender population in Latin America was infected by HIV. Something is not being done right…
What gender and how old were the people who were infected by HIV in 2021? Well, if 48% of new infections were among gay men and other men who have sex with men, it is logical that 51% of new infections included men between 25 and 49 years old (young adults!) and 18% men between 15 and 24 years old (old teenagers!). Generally a big majority of new infections in Latin America affected men. In 2020 in Colombia there were 150.000 men living with HIV and 29.000 women. In Peru there were 71.000 men living with HIV and 18.000 women.
However be careful with this information! Do not think that it only depends on your sexual orientation… WRONG! Remember that another 29% of new infections were among clients of sex workers and sex partners of ALL key populations. What about women then? Out of the more than 100.000 new infections in 2021, 15% affected women between 25 and 49 years old and 6% women between 15 and 24… The countries were there are smaller gender differences between men and women living HIV are Guatemala, Paraguay, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Conclusion? HIV has affected a majority of men in Latin America but almost a quarter of new infections were among women, meaning that HIV still remains a public health issue for all. Therefore we all have to participate and help key populations reduce their numbers of new infections! Just like all men on this planet should participate in the fight for women’s rights!
There are still thousands of people who do not know their status, and therefore do not access treatment.
The 2.2 million people may represent a small percentage of the total population of Latin America but let’s keep in mind that in 29.000 lost their lives to AIDS in 2021. Should we allow this to happen in 2021 especially when we have the tools to control this pandemic? I do not think so… 1.5 million people had access to treatment in 2021, let’s reach the 2.2 million people living with HIV as well as help key populations avoid new infections, especially when the estimated percentage of people infected by HIV in the total population of Latin America is 0,5%! Let’s go for the 0%!
Among the countries who best lowered their new HIV infections per year since 2010 are Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina and Colombia. New infections have however increased in Chile, Costa Rica and Brazil. The HIV incidence per 1000 population in these countries are 0.26 for Chile, 0.23 for Brazil and an unfortunate 0.34 for Costa Rica! The lowest HIV incidence can be found in Guatemala (0.05), Honduras (0.07) and Bolivia (0.08)… (I will have a better look at their national strategies because this data is quite interesting…I’ll keep you updated!).
Bolivia has also made a huge effort in reducing its AIDS-related deaths since 2010 by 68%! Colombia has also divided AIDS-related deaths in 13 years by 58% (from 7.200 to 3.000 ! ENHORABUENA!), a huge success compared to other countries like Costa Rica where they increased by 65% or El Salvador where, even though new infections decreased quickly, AIDS-related deaths increased by 90%! This can be due to the fact that Costa Rica only has 53% of people living with HIV on treatment (8.308)! Just a bit more than half of the infected population with only 36% of women living with HIV on treatment… Colombia has 90% of its women living with HIV on treatment. Bolivia who in 2020 had 17.000 Bolivians living with HIV had less than 200 deaths, one of the best situations in Latin America!
HIV infections are still on the rise even though many countries are trying to have a better control. New infections do not depend on the wealth of these countries as we have seen with HIV new infections rising in Chile and Brazil and decreasing in countries like Colombia or Argentina. Men are more affected by the virus than women, even though there is a small difference in HIV infections between genders in countries like Costa Rica. There are still thousands of people who do not know their status, and therefore do not access treatment. Do these people who live far away from the closest hospital also live far away from the closest HIV tests? It is possible. However, if you live close to one and you have not been tested you are being stupid. Take care of yourself and the people around you! We are lucky to live at a time where HIV can be controlled, be the one to make a difference!
Hasta luego!
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