Volume No. 2 Issue No. 34 - Monday April 7, 2008
Twenty years of HIV/AIDS in Dominica
 By Thomson Fontaine
Sine 1981, 121 persons have died from AIDS in Dominica.
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Since the first documented case of HIV/AIDS in Dominica in 1987, there has been a cumulative rise of 327 cases up to December 2007. This is the latest figures coming out of a recent United Nations report on the status of HIV/AIDS in Dominica.
The progress report on the epidemic also reveals that from 1987 – 2005 the Health Information Unit of the Princess Margaret Hospital recorded a total of 121 deaths due to AIDS. Over the past three years however, there has been a reduction in the number of deaths.
The most deaths (15), were recorded in 2003, with males accounting for 80% of the total deaths. However, in the ensuing years 2004 and 2005, deaths stood at 11 and 5 respectively. The significant decrease in deaths in 2005 may be attributed to the availability of free antiretroviral drugs to Persons Living with HIV and AIDS in Dominica as implemented by the OECS/Global Fund Project.
Dominica’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate stands at 0.75%, with males representing 72% of all
diagnosed HIV cases with close to 70% of all cases occurring in the 25-
44 age groups.
While the epidemic is by no means contained, there are some encouraging signs. The number of pregnant women testing positive for HIV/AIDS have fallen. Of the 1054 women giving birth during 2006, only one tested positive for HIV/AIDS compared to three who tested positive from the 1022 giving birth in 2005.
In 2007, 14 of the 1974 individuals tested were positive, the same number as in 2006 when 2417 individuals were tested.Interestingly, the number of women tested continue to outpace men by at least 4 to 1.
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