san Jose, 1 mar (EFE).-30 years in Costa Rica in 20 patients with human immunodeficiency (HIV) virus was only one woman, but today the proportion has risen to one in four, according to official estimates.
The whole of the United Nations on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) today introduced three studies on the situation of vulnerable groups in the Central American country: women, indigenous people and prisoners, in which warned about the lack of policies and appropriate statistics to address and contain the disease.
Officer of the Costa Rican Ministry of health, Eda Quirós, explained to Efe that “today in HIV photography is very different to the 15 or 20 years ago when the epidemic was associated exclusively with gay men and made us deny that there were other populations in absolute risk because of their vulnerability, especially women”.
“We have a new photo with the face of women and adolescents, face of people which also demonstrate us other social violence.” “The previous picture drew us attention to a very serious disease that was discrimination based on sexual orientation, but now we have new challenges”, added.
Local authorities acknowledge that the exact number of women carriers of HIV-AIDS in Costa Rica is unknown, but the increase among women and young people is more than evident, following the world trend.
According to Laura Sanchez, Advisor on HIV (Unfpa) United Nations Population Fund, some 4,000 people are receiving antiretroviral treatment in the public health of Costa Rica system, but do not have the exact details of how many are women, so it works with estimates, indicating that at least one-fifth of these patients are females.
The study of UNAIDS was conducted with 83 women carriers of HIV and although it is not a statistically representative sample, the activists agreed that give a much clearer idea about the precarious situation of carriers of the virus in the country.
For example, virtually all were infected by her husband or a heterosexual couple, and the vast majority have a schooling and a family income under.
74.4% Of the interviewed said feel discriminated against and 63% said that this discrimination came from his own family.
For Quirós, the plight of women is the result of “the sum of unworthy deficiencies and social violence of which they are victims”.
“The infection is the tip of the iceberg that demonstrates the many fundamental problems,” pointed out. EFE
