HIV/ AIDS in Latin America

When most people think of HIV or AIDS, the first thing that comes to mind is Africa, and the major problems that they are faced with dealing with this epidemic. But not too many people realize that Latin America has a major problem on their hands as well. Currently there are roughly 1.7 million people living with HIV in Latin America, that is more than the United States, Canada, Japan and the UK combined and the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. The HIV and AIDS problems in Latin America are referred to as a "hidden crisis" because awareness is so low. The main factors contributing to this epidemic are the high levels of poverty, and migration. The biggest groups that are affected by this are the sex workers, injecting drug users, migrants and the biggest- homosexuals.
The highest levels of HIV infection are amongst "men who have sex with men", many statistics do not show this because most of the homosexual men dealing with the virus, don't want to admit to having the virus or how they contracted the virus, so they are labeled at heterosexuals with the virus. One government official says that "annual spending estimates... confirm that many Latin American countries make little effort to provide AIDS-related services that address the needs of men who have sex with men... often, health professionals are too embarrassed to ask the right questions and even if asked, men are afraid to provide the right answers." Now in my mind this is a huge problem, because in order to fix a problem who need to know the causes, and if people, especially doctors are unwilling to cooperate and ask the correct questions to help fix this problem, then Latin America is going to have an even bigger problem on their hands sooner than they think.
Sex workers also have a high level of HIV as well, but more with the street based sex workers as opposed to brothel sex workers. The prevalence rate of HIV amongst sex workers is between 2 to 16 percent. Some countries in Latin America have low levels of HIV and other have high amongst sex workers, but regardless its a problem in all Latin America countries.
Ever since the countries shifted from a dictatorship to a democracies, citizens started experimenting with drugs-simply because they could. Because of this HIV is spread between drug users who share infected needles. This is a big concern that many countries are trying to deal with, but with the easy availability of herion in most latin Ameican countries, it has people worried that the prevalence of HIV amongst this group with continue to rise in the years to come, regardless of what the government does.
Migration is another group that is greatly affected by the spread of HIV, but this is more of a global problem than a Latin American problem because poor migrants are leaving Latin America and traveling elsewhere and are taking the virus with them. To make money along the way, many of them have to resort to sex, therefore spreading the virus even more.
Prevention of HIV in Latin America is on a much smaller scale than it should be, and that is mainly because it is largely dependent on non-governmental organizations, and that is because of a lack of resources thought the region of Latin America. The countries promote the use of condoms and encourage testing, but that is simply not enough. Brazil has been the most successful country to deal with the prevention issue, they have spent a lot of money on advertisements and campaigns encouraging condom use, abstinence and testing, and they also have given out free condoms to help contain the virus. Also they have open needle exchange center, to where addicts can get clean needles which has significantly reduced the rate of HIV among drug users. Luiz Loures, a Brazilian epidemiologist said that "Latin American countries are far behind when it comes to prevention for highly vulnerable populations like men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. My conclusion is it look easier for a government o deal with treatment than prevention."
The biggest acheivment that Latin America has accomlished would be antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), which is a treatment for AIDS, and 71 % of the people with AIDS are receiving this treatment, which is huge considering the amount of poverty in the region.
Discrimination in Latin America is another major problem, people with HIV are sometimes considered a health risk to others, and are looked down upon. For example, "in Peru, soccer player Eduardo Esidio, was removed from the University Sports Club professional team when it was discovered that he was HIV positive. The clubs' directors argued that if he was allowed to stay, he would be a health risk to other players." This mans job was taken away from him because he was HIV positive, which in my mind is not fair. Because of this discrimination, it makes the spread of HIV hidden and possibly even more lethal. People with HIV or AIDS do not want to tell people that they have contracted the disease, so nobody knows, which leaves a lot more people at risk.
HIV and AIDS are a major problem in Latin America, and until the awareness level is significantly raised, and Governments start taking action along with International Aid, nothing is going to get better. Latin America usually gets neglected because of their poverty, and they get overlooked due to the epidemic in Africa and the rising problems in Asia. Overall this is a problem that needs to be contained and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Source: http://www.avert.org/aidslatinamerica.htm