Two studies from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS showed that 60 percent of people with this disease in the Dominican Republic are women, infection linked to gender violence.
Agencies working to address this problem are UNAIDS and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
Experts from these organizations set out the results of studies conducted in the country, which highlight educational level and gender as two factors that increase the risk of contracting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Gender-based violence also increases the risk of HIV infection, said expert Alina Ramirez, researcher and coauthor of the study "Gender Equality and HIV in the Dominican Republic.
The 30 percent of new AIDS cases in the Dominican Republic come from the relationships of trust, that is, within marriage, free unions and courtships, according to international agencies.
Studies estimate that there are 57 540 people living with HIV, 34 630 of them are women and 22 190 men.
The highest prevalence of HIV cases is in women between 30 and 34 years old.
According to studies, there is a clear link between violence against women, especially in childhood, when there is a higher risk of being affected by HIV due to violations, stigma and discrimination.
“HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was identified in 1984 as the cause of AIDS. It selectively grows in particular white cells in the blood known as CD4+ T lymphocytes, which are essential to the body's immune response. It eventually damages or kills these cells, releasing further virus to continue the spread of the infection in the body.”
ReplyDelete“AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is caused by HIV. By killing or damaging CD4 cells, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People who are HIV positive are liable to infection with viruses, bacteria or yeasts which do not normally harm people, so-called opportunistic infections. As the number of CD4+ T-lymphocytes decreases, the risk and severity of opportunistic illnesses increases. A person has AIDS when they have one or more of the over twenty most common opportunistic infections that define AIDS, also called "AIDS-defining illness," or if their CD4 Cell count is below 200.”
In the Dominican Republic AIDS has become an issue of pressing concern. Though seropositive prevalence rates have remained stable at 2.5%, due to the successes of national prevention strategies, the possibility of rate increases are always present. The rate of HIV infection is about equal in males and females, though infection rates in young women are rapidly escalating, which is of great concern to pregnant women because they can pass the virus to their unborn child.
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