Over five thousand persons living with HIV in Belize

There are over five thousand persons in the country that are living with HIV. This statistic is revealed in the National Health Information and Surveillance Unit in the Ministry of Health second quarter report for 2009. Doctor Marvin Manzanero, the Director of the National HIV/Aids Program, says that the statistics show that many infected men don’t access health care until they are seriously ill.

Doctor Marvin Manzanero, Director, National HIV/AIDS Program, M.O.H. (via phone)
“One of the things that I think stands out is that we have now an estimated 5,000 plus persons living with HIV in the country of Belize. But this is a cumulative figure that goes back to when we first documented the cases in 1986. so we have in this same reported period which goes from April to June, we have 106 new cases with 19 deaths we documented at headquarters. Of course this doesn’t mean that it’s the total number of new infections. There could be more. These are the people that have been captured by the system as HIV positive cases there.”

Jose Sanchez
“In regards to male and female transmission, are there any differences in trends?”

Doctor Marvin Manzanero
“Ahm, as the report says when it comes to the total of new HIV infections the figures is almost a one to one ratio. Which means for every male that’s becoming infected, you’re having one female is becoming infected. That has been particularly the pattern that has been noticed for the past five to six years. However, when it comes to number of persons who are infected with full blown aids, because HIV and aids are not the same thing, we are having more males being diagnosed with aids as opposed to females. What this is saying is basically that the males whenever they come to be tested is because they are already having some signs, symptoms that are classifying them as having full blown aids. And that is because males, in general, don’t seem to interact that much with the health system.”