_{Photo: Enrique Romero, Executive Director, National AIDS Commission}

In Belize an estimated 3,700 are living with HIV, with 80% of those persons knowing their status

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 2, 2024

Belize joined other countries worldwide in observing World AIDS Day on December 1 under the theme, “Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right!”

“This means a call to action to remind all Belizeans that the fundamental rights of every individual, regardless of their HIV status, [is] to live with dignity, respect and equity, and equal access to care and support,” declared Enrique Romero, Executive Director for the National AIDS Commission (NAC).

“… At the National AIDS Commission, one of the biggest barriers that we have identified is the issue of stigma, discrimination, human rights violations, and inequity in service provision. So, we take the opportunity to use the day to sound the call to action to our partners for less stigma, discrimination and [to see that] there is more equitable service for health care service,” he added.

World AIDS Day is one of eleven global health campaign days recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as it spreads awareness about persons living with the virus and mourning those who have died of the disease.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is the late stage of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly damaged because of the virus. In this stage of the disease patients may experience severe weight loss, fever, extreme fatigue, or impaired memory.

According to the WHO, an estimated 39.9 million persons are living worldwide with the virus – 1.4 million being children from birth to 14 years old, and 38.6 million are persons 15 years and older. There were 1.3 million newly infected cases and 630,000 AIDS-related deaths recorded at the end of 2023.

There has been a 39% reduction in new infections since 2010.

Meanwhile, in Belize, Romero highlighted that an estimated 3,700 are living with HIV, with 80% of those persons knowing their status.

There were more than 150 newly infected persons between 19 and 29, which is a steady annual average throughout 5 years.

“What is alarming is that most of these infections are found in young men! So, given this data that we have, moving forward to 2025, we have to redesign our intervention to ensure that we capture men who are [in this] group of individuals to bring [them to] a health facility. That’s not only with HIV … hypertension, diabetes, cancer, or even the common flu, men, for some reason, have a late diagnosis in the clinic,” he said. “It’s not any particular group, but men who are having sex with men or engaging in anal sex with other men. So, in general, we need to focus on men, because even though we have men who are engaging with sex with other men, some of these men have their girlfriends or wives and eventually come back to them, and so we need to protect the women,” Romero mentioned.

Romero highlights that HIV medication is provided free of cost at any medical facility in the country for persons who discover that they are HIV-positive.