Rare Progress in Haiti

Good news reported in a recent Associated Press article about the AIDS infection rate in Haiti: Once the country with the highest rate of infection in the Western Hemisphere (Haiti is also the poorest country in the hemisphere), the rate of infection continues to drop precipitously. With the strong assistance of two nonprofits, the Boston-based Partners in Health and the Haitian group GHESKIO, infections have decreased by an estimated two-thirds since 1993.

Though such statistics are far from precise, particularly in a poor country like Haiti, the numbers we do have show AIDS now affects about 2.2 percent of adults among Haiti’s 9.5 million population. That is still too high, but better than some countries in the hemisphere like the Bahamas and Guyana, and far better than comparable poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, where some have rates in the double digits. "The Haitian AIDS community feels like they're out in front of everyone else on this, and pretty much they are," Judith Timyan, senior HIV/AIDS adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Haiti told AP.

Experts credit the closing of private blood banks, the increasing use of AIDS drugs, the increasing use of condoms, and education as the key factors contributing to Haiti’s success.

Partners in Health, founded in 1983, by two Haitians and two Americans, is universally praised especially for its "accompagnateur" program, in which locals are paid to assist AIDS victims with both their medical treatment and prevention. GHESKIO’s tactics include distributing free phone cards to AIDS victims so they can stay in touch with medical clinics.