UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Haiti175Haitian AIDSorphans queueingoutside their classroomat La Maison Arcdu Soleil (RainbowHouse), 1999. It wasestablished outside thecapital, in Boutilier, byPlan International.AFP/Getty Images/Thony BelizaireHaitiHaiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. About 65% of its populationlive below the poverty level and the country has had a violent political history – 13governments within two decades. However, in relation to its HIV epidemic, thenews is not all bad, even though Haiti is the worst hit country in terms of prevalenceoutside sub-Saharan Africa. Haiti has the highest prevalence of HIV in Latin Americaand the Caribbean. According to the UNAIDS 2007 Global Report, 3.8% of all adultsare living with HIV.At the onset of the epidemic in the early 1980s, Haiti was one of the so-called ‘4-H’club: ‘homosexuality, heroin-injecting drug use, haemophilia and Haiti’. Stigma andfear badly affected tourism, a key source of income to the country, in those first fewyears. They also kept the infection underground, which facilitated a gradual spreadfrom urban to rural areas.