HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean: Haiti (Pt 2)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following blog is the second of a four-part series on HIV/AIDS and the Caribbean. Look for Part 3 of 4 in August 2010.

On January 12, 2010 an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale leveled much of Haiti. Among the many building collapsed, lives lost and services interrupted, were those used in the fight against HIV & AIDS. The buildings of the Ministry of Public Health and Population, and countless hospitals and community organizations that worked with the HIV infected population were partially or completely destroyed.

Outreach and education activities such as condom distribution, HIV/AIDS education, testing and distribution of the life saving antiretroviral drugs have been interrupted. And as the country moves to re-establish basic needs and services to all affected by the earthquake, it is important not to forget the importance of re-establishing those services as well.

If HIV/AIDS services and education are not given priority in the rebuilding of Haiti, the current living conditions of many Haitians, may serve to exacerbate the spread of the virus. Many Haitians are living in crowded tent cities with little to no privacy or security. These cities are quickly becoming the sites of an increasing number of rapes, sexual assaults and transactional sex acts.⑤

Kofaviv, a local grass-roots organization that gives aid to rape victims in the capital of Port-au-Prince, has counseled triple the amount of rape victims since the earthquake than they have in the same amount of time last year.⑥

But despite these obstacles, Haiti and her partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS are committed to rebuilding the country’s infrastructure so as to continue servicing and educating the population. Both in the short-term with stop gap measures designed to get the much needed antiretroviral drugs to those infected with HIV or condoms distributed among the displaced. To long term goals such as rebuilding the health systems and the national network of people living with HIV.⑦

This tiny island nation has, for many years, suffered through political and economic upheaval as well as numerous natural disasters. But despite the magnitude of destruction the recent earthquake has dealt the Haitian people, it is still possible for the country to rise from the rubble and rebuild the network of individuals and organizations that helped to educated, treat and prevent HIV/AIDS infections. With a renewed focus, and help from international partners, Haiti can once again serve, service and arm their people for the continued fight against the virus.

For more information please visit:

Gheskio…http://www.gheskio.org/
Partners in Health…http://www.pih.org/
The Haitian Centers Council…http://hccinc.org/



Alysia Christiani
alysiasimone@gmail.com

5 UNAIDS 2010 Helping Haiti Rebuild Its AIDS Response
6 Sexual Assaults Add to Miseries of Haiti’s Ruins, NY Times June 2010
7 UNAIDS 2010 Helping Haiti Rebuild Its AIDS Response

HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean: Haiti (Pt 1)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following blog is the second of a four-part series on HIV/AIDS and the Caribbean. Look for Part 3 of 4 in August 2010.

Growing up a Guyanese-American girl in the predominately West Indian neighborhood of Flatbush in Brooklyn, NY, I’ve run the streets with people from all over the Caribbean. But Haitians and Haitian-Americans have always had a special place in my circle of friends. Must be all those cute Ayisyen dudes I’ve dated throughout the years, ;-)

But I remember a time when being Haitian or of Haitian decent was not a thing to be proud of. When kids would make fun of, be rude to, or just straight up mean to anyone claiming Haiti as their homeland. Though there were a few reasons why this happened, predominant among them was the mistakenly believed link between Haiti and the emergence of the HIV virus.

When the virus hit Haiti, it hit hard. And as the rate of infection rose on the island nation, many Haitian immigrants to the United States were found to be carrying the HIV virus as well. By 1983 the Centers for Disease Control had officially listed ‘Haitian entrants to the United States’ as ‘persons who may be considered at increased risk of AIDS’.① This statement decimated the Haitian tourism industry and created a climate of discrimination, stigma and isolation towards Haitians and Haitian-Americans.

Ever since then, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Haiti has been one of the most severe in the Caribbean. Before the earthquake that devastated the country this past January, the adult HIV prevalence rate was estimated at 2.2%. An estimated 120,000 people were living with the virus (53% of whom were women). And those living with HIV in Haiti accounted for 47% of all people living with HIV in the Caribbean.②



The virus was running rampant throughout the Haitian community. But thanks to the coordinated response of local and international doctors, nurses, community workers, public health experts, and organizations the tide was beginning to turn. The work of organizations like Partners in Heath and the Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO), the HIV infection rate had started to come down. ③ These groups, and others, were able to:


1. Educate the population on safe sex practices
2. Get antiretroviral drugs into the hands of 41% of the infected population
3. Prevent mother-child transmission of the virus by 22%④

And though there was still much to be done to contain the disease, things were moving forward.

Then the earthquake hit...

Alysia Christiani
alysiasimone@gmail.com


1 MMWR Weekly (1983) 'Current trends prevention of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS): Report of Inter-Agency Recommendations', March 4, 32(8);101-3
2 UNAIDS 2010 Helping Haiti Rebuild Its AIDS Response
3 UNAIDS 2008 repot on the Global AIDS Epidemic Helping Haiti Rebuild Its AIDS Response
4 UNAIDS 2010 Helping Haiti Rebuild Its AIDS Response

To Be Continued Thursday, July 22...

HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, Part 1 of 4

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following blog kicks off a four-part series on HIV/AIDS and the Caribbean. Look for Part 2 of 4 in July 2010.

When discussing the HIV/AIDS crisis, I find that the conversation usually focuses on two locations, The United States and Africa. I live in the U.S., so of course I’m most concerned with what is going on in my own backyard. Since the continent of Africa has the highest occurrence of HIV/AIDS in the world — fully two-thirds of all people in the world who are infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa* — I am very concerned about the fight against new HIV and AIDS there also.

But there is another area of the world that needs to enter the conversation — The Caribbean**. As a woman of Guyanese decent (big up all GT massive an’ crew! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself ☺), I’m concerned about the impact that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having in the Caribbean.

Before linking up with GET DOWN, I had no idea as to what really was going on in the Caribbean community related to HIV/AIDS. I assumed that, like most places in the world, the Caribbean population must suffer with the infection and disease as well but I was shocked to learn that after sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean has the highest rate of HIV prevalence than any other area of the world. In 2008, an estimated 20,000 Caribbean people were infected with HIV and approximately 12,000 died of AIDS***.



Not only are those living in the Caribbean disproportionately affected, but the Caribbean population here in the States is heavily affected as well. According to the NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene 2007 report, Caribbean immigrants make up roughly 25% of the New York City population and of the 23% of foreign-born New Yorkers who are newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, 50% of those are from the Caribbean. I was floored by this number. Digging deeper I found that between 2001 – 2006 there were 5,804 new HIV diagnoses in New York City with the majority of those diagnoses being individuals who were born in the Caribbean. As reported to the NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene Sept 2005, the largest number of these diagnoses, 32%, can be found in the East Flatbush/Flatbush section of Brooklyn, a neighborhood with a high concentration of Caribbean immigrants.

Faced with these statistics the questions on my mind are (a) Why is the rate of HIV/AIDS so high among the Caribbean and Caribbean-American community? and (b) What can we do to turn the tide?

Based on data reported to the NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene 2007, heterosexual sex is the main mode of transmission with the commercial sex trade playing a large role in some areas. Men who have sex with men, but who do not indentify as “homosexual” (MSM) are also a factor in the spread of the disease. Given the culturally ingrained homophobia that exists throughout the region, it is not known how much this mode of transmission truly contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that MSM sex accounts for 12% of infections, but due to denial and under-reporting it is thought that the actual rate is, in reality, much higher✜.

Unprotected sex combined with the poor public infrastructure, poverty, gender inequalities and limited resources that many Caribbean countries endure make for an environment that only exacerbates the spread of the disease.

Despite these obstacles there are steps we can take to help slow the rate of infection among the Caribbean and Caribbean-American communities:

1. Increased sexual health education.
2. Increased treatment, care and support of those living with HIV/AIDS.
3. Increased education on ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Therefore I urge all Caribbeans and Caribbean-Americans to come out and support the 2010 National Caribbean-American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on June 8th in your city. Visit http://www.caribbeanhealthaidsday.com/dsp/event/dsp_events.php to find out what events are happening near you.

And for those located in New York City, be sure to come out for the 10th Annual AIDS Walk Caribbean on June 20th. Visit http://www.aidswalkcaribbean.com/ to register.



It is only through increased education and awareness that we can begin to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS in our community. I encourage you to educate yourself and others as to the reality of the situation and commit yourself to doing your part to help change it.

For more information please visit:

AVERT
http://www.avert.org/aids-caribbean.htm

PAN CARIBBEAN PARTNERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS
http://pancap.org/

THE HAITIAN CENTERS COUNCIL, INC.
http://hccinc.org/

CARIBBEAN WOMEN’S HEALTH ASSOCIATION
http://www.cwha.org/

THE BODY’S INT’L HIV/AIDS ORGANIZATIONS http://www.thebody.com/index/hotlines/internat.html#caribbean

THE AUDRE LORDE PROJECT
http://alp.org/resources/nyc


—Alysia Christiani
alysiasimone@gmail.com


REFERENCES

*UNAIDS (2008) 'Report on the global AIDS epidemic'
**CariCom Member profiles. The Caribbean includes islands in the Caribbean
Sea and the mainland countries of Belize, Guyana and Suriname.
***UNAIDS 2009 AIDS epidemic update
✜UNAIDS/WHO 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, July 2008 and
2009 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2009
✜UNAIDS (2008) 'Report on the global AIDS epidemic'