|
from Medical Issues
AIDS Crisis Worsens In Honduras
January 6, 2006 - A report in the Dallas Morning News (Dec. 26, 2005) suggests
that the AIDS epidemic in Honduras is growing worse each year.
In San Pedro Sula, the country's second largest city, AIDS has infected 5.5% of
the population. In the early stages of the epidemic, Honduran men accounted for
most infections. Now, women account for 30% of the cases. It is the leading
cause of death among child-rearing women, and the second leading cause of
hospitalization among adults.
Many of these infections are from prostitutes who work in brothels throughout
the country.
Honduran epidemiologist Kenneth Rodriquez says: "The epidemic is two steps in
front of us. We need to take extreme measures to slow it down. HIV/AIDS needs to
become a national priority, a national emergency."
According to another Honduran epidemiologist, Jorge Fernandez, the government
has not made HIV prevention a priority, and he partially blamed the Catholic
Church. "We are a people deeply subservient to the whim of the Catholic Church.
Here the cardinal is more powerful than the president."
The first HIV case diagnosed in Honduras was in 1984. A gay dentist who made
frequent trips to San Francisco brought the virus back with him to the city of
El Progreso. A handful of sailors were diagnosed afterward and it has continued
to spread since then.
Updated: 8 February 2008
|
