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In an address to the United
Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS, Haitian First Lady Mildred
Aristide said “the fight against AIDS and the fight against
poverty are being dangerously treated like two distinct fights…there
is only one fight: the fight against poverty.” This is particularly
true in a country like Haiti, where HIV affects 235,000 adults
and more than 11,000 children, 80 percent of whom live in
abject poverty. As the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,
Haiti is entirely dependent upon foreign aid, volunteers and
the participation of non-government organizations for food
and medicines, but a continuing United States-led aid embargo
has made the procurement of basic amenities extremely difficult.
For those Haitians with HIV this embargo is almost assuredly
a death sentence.
“I need US $6,000 per
year to purchase medicines,” said Christian Jules, longtime
HIV survivor. Christian Jules is one of the lucky ones. Sometimes
he receives his meds from institutions like ASON (The Association
for National Solidarity). But many more are forced through
a combination of poverty and desperation to camp out on the
front lawns of hospitals like Zanmi Lesante (Creole Partners
for Health) hoping to find some respite from the virus.
“One hundred twenty
deaths due to AIDS are recorded in Haiti, while 120 new cases
of AIDS develop every day among those already infected with
the virus,” said Jean Saurel Beaujour, Executive Secretary
of ASON.
HIV/AIDS in Haiti is mainly
transferred through heterosexual contact. Many of Haiti’s
large cities like the capital, Port-au-Prince, support a vibrant
sex trade where sex workers shun the use of condoms for more
money. Though plentiful, many men choose not to use condoms
or use them irregularly during sexual contact, exposing their
partners and unborn children to the virus. Migrants fleeing
rural areas for economic opportunities in the city or in the
Dominican Republic often carry the virus with them, unknowingly
transmitting it to their sex partners. As a result, women
are the fastest growing population infected with HIV. Researchers
at the University of Texas have placed the current male-to-female
ratio of HIV infection at 0.8 to 1, but those in the field
like Harvard University’s Dr. Paul Farmer are confident that
the infection rate is much higher.
“The majority [of people]
who should be getting [anti-retroviral medications] are not,
in Haiti, and the rest of the world,” Farmer said.
There are some bright spots
in Haiti’s fight against HIV. The efforts of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), multilateral partnerships and the United
Nations have helped to slow down the spread of HIV/AIDS in
some populations. Studies have shown that 98% of Haiti’s population
knows about HIV/AIDS and approximately 65% of Haitians, many
of them between the ages of 13 and 24, understand how the
virus is transmitted. Additionally, condom sales have increased
dramatically and the rates of infection among young, sexually
active Haitians has fallen from a staggering 7.1 percent to
5.9 percent.
The Haitian government, under
the leadership of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has made HIV/AIDS
its top priority. State-sponsored programs are being created
in concert with NGOs and multilateral partners to address
mother-to-child transmission, vaccine research and care for
HIV-positive Haitians. Additionally, the government is active
in encouraging people living with HIV/AIDS to participate
in the creation of voluntary testing centers (VCT) where those
most directly affected by the disease can make information,
counseling and support available to those who cannot usually
obtain it.
HIV will continue to drain
the Haitian Republic economically, socially and politically
for years to come: that much is certain. But cooperation between
physicians, activists, HIV-positive people and non-government
organizations throughout the world is bringing hope back to
those who previously had none. “You don’t need to have a lot
of money,” says Adeline Benoit, a former cook who had to abandon
her career when she discovered she was HIV-positive. “What
is important is human assistance…that you have someone on
whom you can count.
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