Latest HIV/AIDS statistics show increased infection

It may have taken them a while, but The Ministry of Health has finally released the first quarter report on HIV/AIDS for 2006. According to the statistics, there were one hundred and thirty-one new reported HIV infections, fifteen new AIDS cases, and fourteen AIDS-related deaths. The numbers show an increase compared to the first quarter of 2005, which placed new infections at ninety-nine and new AIDS cases at eight. AIDS-related deaths showed a slight dip with January through March 2005 showing sixteen, two more than this quarter in 2006. In terms of the male to female ratio, the stats show an almost one to one ratio with men accounting for sixty-seven of the new infections and women sixty-four. For men, the age group most affected in the first quarter are those twenty-five to thirty-four and forty to forty-four, while for women its those between fifteen and twenty-nine years old. HIV stakeholders maintain that Belize is currently experiencing a plateau in the epidemic and in another couple of year the country should start seeing a decline. Last year the National AIDS Programme reported four hundred and thirty-four new HIV infections, a reduction from 2004’s four hundred and fifty-seven.